


Supernova

by Actually_Crowley



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Magic, Firestarter Mako, M/M, Mugging, Not Beta Read, Obliviously Magical Newt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Selkie Hermann, Witch Tendo, witch newt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-07-25 23:07:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16207571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Actually_Crowley/pseuds/Actually_Crowley
Summary: Dr. Hermann Gottlieb is a selkie who's been living quietly as a human by choice for most of his life.  For the past year, he's felt threatened by the presence of Dr. Newton Geiszler, a witch whose immense ego is only overshadowed by his insurmountable magic.  Hermann decides early that he cannot be trusted and takes steps to not let Newton anywhere near him or his secret.After a night of drinking with co-workers, a series of events leads not only to Newton's vindication, but also reveals that he's in need of more help than anyone could have ever known.  When Hermann learns the truth, will it come soon enough to save the world?





	1. Quasar

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I read about a plot device (selkie Hermann), and my brain writes a four season TV show, three movies, and a Broadway musical adaption in response. It's my job to compress all that into something manageable. :V

The bar by the bay was not a University bar. That is to say, it was not home to as many students as the one nearer to the campus. At the very least, if it had been frequented by students before, the cold swell of the holidays had pulled most of them home. The bar by the bay was now mostly a sports bar. It was smoky and loud, a dull hum through everyone’s bones, and the drinks kept coming.

Hermann hated it.

Up until two hours prior, he’d been grading papers in peace and quiet with a hot cup of tea at his aid. He’d been foolish to accept his fellow faculty members invitation, but for a fleeting moment, he’d felt touched. They’d never invited him anywhere before; Or rather, Hermann had missed the invitations or never agreed before this. He decided that it would be a nice to be social for a change. He had no real issues with most of the faculty, and he was good friends with coach Hansen at least, who was there at the head of the bar buying the rounds for everyone and slipping the bartender an extra twenty to find a channel with rugby. He was quite partial to professor Choi’s company as well, who looked as dapper and old fashioned as ever sitting too close to Herc after two beers. The problem wasn’t the majority of the staff at all.

The problem was Dr. Newton Geiszler. He sat on the other side of Mr. Choi, effectively blocking Hermann from the two people he’d like to call his friends.

Dr. Newton Geiszler was a pompous ass with loud opinions that always seemed to clash with Hermann’s own. He had bright, obnoxious tattoos, and his hair way always a mess. All of these things, he could forgive.

But no. Dr. Newton Geiszler smelled of magic.

That in and of itself was not a crime. Many people smelled of the magic they had within them. One of Hermann’s favourite students, Mako Mori, always smelled a little bit like cinnamon, and he’d caught her calming flames surrounding her head once in an empty class room. To Hermann’s knowledge, he was the only one who knew about miss Mori’s abilities. Young witches smelled of distant incense, spices, and how he’d always imagined the smell of the stars he’d loved so much. There were many other students who smelled of something, even a few that could smell it on him in return. But these scents were subtle.

Newton’s was _overpowering_. Hermann didn’t have to be less than twenty feet away to know when Newton was strolling around the corner. It always felt like he’d suddenly stuck his nose in a vial of burnt cloves. He smelled of the stars, yes, but as if Hermann had been cast into the centre of one.

Witches were taught from a young age how to hide their magic. The only reason to allow that much magical energy out of oneself is to show off. That much energy meant that he wanted to put other beings in their place.

Hermann hated it. He hated Newton. He hated having to be in this bar and be unable to speak to his friends because of the wall of ego and spice in the way.

He clung to his parka in his lap and began draining his third lager. He was feeling it, but he didn’t want to stop until he could no longer smell the magic rolling off of Newton. Unfortunately, with every drink Newton had, the smell grew stronger, and Hermann needed another round.

Hermann vaguely heard Herc make a crack about Germans being able to put away their alcohol, but it was lost in a sea of spice. He turned to regard him anyway. “Geography has little to do with constitution, Mr. Hansen,” He managed, sounding just as eloquent as usual.

Newton scoffed and Hermann clung harder to his parka. “You haven’t had that much if you can still sound like a stuffy, English caricature.”

Hermann glowered at him. “The only caricature in this room is you, Dr. Geiszler. Why the board decided to hire you remains a mystery to me.”

“Hey, if you could find a better marine biologist for the position, you’re gonna have to let me know so I can kill them and absorb their power.” Newton took a shot.

Hermann balked at him, not entirely sure where the joke was meant to be or if there even was one. “Must you be so callous!?”

Newton smirked at him, and Hermann felt uneasy. If he gripped his coat any harder, it would have ripped. Newton smirked like he knew something. But he couldn’t know. Hermann did everything in his power to hide it.

Hermann was a selkie.

No one but Mako knew what Hermann was. The idea that Newton might have known was horrifying. As much as this show of magic was just gloating, it did mean that Newton was incredibly powerful- much more so that Hermann could hope to be. If Newton knew what he was, then he would know how to control him.

God he wanted to leave. He flagged down the bartender for another lager despite his current only being half drained. By the time the bartender would return, it would be empty.

He felt Newton’s eyes burning holes into his head, and the smell of stars was exploding behind his eyes. When he was given his next drink, he softly requested that the bartender bring another before he was done.

He had to block out Newton's presence.

He heard Newton make a crack about cutting Hermann off at some point because he must have taken his words as a challenge, but he elected to ignore it. He shouldn’t have come.

~

The night had wore on, and Hermann was as out of it as he’d ever been. He’d had pain killers that inebriated him less, and at the moment, he couldn’t feel any pain. He knew in the morning, he’d be in some serious pain, but until then, he would ride this numbness and his dulled sense of smell until he could see straight again.

He did notice, through his haze, that he couldn’t move. He knew the moment he tried to stand, his body and his blood alcohol level would send him straight to the floor.

The population of the bar was dwindling, and his head was rested on the bar. The vibrations of bar glasses being lifted and set down had dulled to a minimum. There were maybe two. A short lift of his head revealed that it was Herc and Newton. He didn’t know when Tendo left, but whenever it had been, he seemed to have taken the majority of the bar with him. What time was it? Was the bar closing? Had he really been out that late?

He watched Newton turn and look directly at him. With a huff, he turned his head away again. But his lack of sight didn’t cut off his hearing. “Wow, he is _gone_ , dude.”

“You did egg ‘im on,” Came Herc’s slurred response.

“I did not!” Too loud. Newton was too damn loud.

“Well I definitely can’t drive ‘im.”

“I was gonna call him a cab. Make sure he gets to his door and shit.” Hermann felt a hot, humming hand find his pocket, and he made an indignant noise in response. Newton snickered at him, and it made Hermann’s blood boil. “Ease up, man, I’m going for your address, not your junk.”

Hermann tried to tell Newton not to touch him at all, but he couldn’t form any words. He was acutely aware of Newton’s scent now, and also that he seemed to be leaning into his warm shoulder. It was comfortable, as unnerving as it was to be there, and maybe, just maybe, he was a little too drunk to talk himself out of liking it there.

Damn.

His body was jarred as Newton chuckled. “Shit, we’re sharing a cab. Don’t worry Herc, I got him. He lives like, on the way to my place.”

“Lemme know when you get him home. _And_ yourself. I don’t wanna have to send Max out huntin’ for you, understand?” Herc’s protective streak was out and loud after that many beers. Hermann appreciated it as much as he could through the fog of booze and spice.

“I’ll take care of him, don’t worry,” Newton promised. Hermann heard Newton asking the bartender to call for a cab, but he heard little else.

Hermann felt his consciousness slipping. It was inevitable, with how much he’d had, but he supposed there were worse places to pass out. Short and small as he was, Newton was surprisingly strong as he coiled an arm around his waist and shifted him off the bar stool. Somehow, despite the fiery crackle of fireworks in his nose, Hermann felt at ease.

“Op- Got your coat, Hermann.”

The ease left.

Regrettably, so did his ability to fight the sleep overtaking him.

~

Hermann woke, still fully clothed, in his own bed. His leg was furious with him, and he twisted into his pillow to groan into it, trying to alleviate some of the pain. He found, in the darkness, that his head was pounding. A hangover, his fuzzy head told him, logically. He’d had close to over half a dozen lagers that were nothing to laugh at in alcohol content, and in his nervous stupor, he’d made no effort to drink any water.

He sat up with a slow hiss. He realised with a level of indignation that the top two buttons of his normally completely buttoned shirt were undone, and his sweater vest was off and folded in a nearby chair. On the bedside table sat his meds. Not just the recent ones, but every single bottle he had. He stared at them for a few seconds, trying to sort out how they’d made their way there from the medicine cabinet.

Beside them, a glass of water and a note. Ah. It was likely Newton’s doing. He plucked the note from the table and squinted to read the barely legible script.

‘ _Morning Herms!_ ’

Hermann scoffed.

‘ _I wasn’t sure which one of these you might need, so I just brought them all out. This was a cup of ice when I made it for you, but I figure it’ll be cold water by the time you wake up. I also made you a hangover remedy that I left in your fridge if you’re real bad off (you didn’t drink a DROP of water dude)._

_Take a day if you need it, the student papers aren’t going anywhere._

_(PS: If you always drink like this, we need to get together more often)_ ’

There was a scribbled doodle of a smiley face with its tongue out instead of a proper closure, and Hermann rolled his eyes. In a weird way, the note was… touching? Hermann had never had Newton be this weirdly kind to him.

The letter smelled of cloves and reminded Hermann that Newton had no filter. He left his magic everywhere. Hermann scoffed at it and set the note down, but he went about his morning taking his medicine with the (still pleasantly cold) water anyway.

He found his cane had been set very close by as well, purposefully in the first place he was likely to look when he roused on the table behind the medicine. He pushed himself to stand, balancing on the balls of his feet, and immediately regretted being upright.

He had not had that much to drink in _ages_. His head spun, and his momentum from standing nearly continued its trek forward and cast him to the floor. Thankfully, his grip on his cane was firm, and he caught himself. He fought a chill and a nauseating upheaval of his equilibrium for a few more seconds before leaving the room. Perhaps he would give Newton’s hangover remedy a shot after all.

The chill didn’t leave his bones. He debated seriously the idea of wrapping himself in his duvet and stewing the day away on his couch watching documentaries, but he still had some work to do before he could truly start his holidays. He may as well finish it today.

He found the fridge with little trouble, pausing to rebutton his shirt, which he hadn’t done. He considered that maybe this was to explain the chill; he usually had his shirts buttoned higher than most turtlenecks if he could help it. He opened the fridge and found a glass full of something pale brown in colour and translucent aside from the flecks of _something_ shaved into it floating at the top. There was a sticky note on it encouraging Hermann to ‘Drink me!’ written in Newton’s big handwriting. He winced at the sight of it. “What in god’s name…?” He lifted it from the shelf and sniffed it.

The scent of Newton’s magic took over his nose and caused his eyes to tear. He jerked the glasses away, spilling a bit on the floor, and stared at it with wide eyes. This wasn’t some remedy, it was a goddamn potion. He hobbled as fast as he could to the sink and dumped the contents of the glass down the drain, running the water to wash it away.

What the hell had Newton tried to do to him?

He took a deep breath and pulled some paper towels from the roll by the sink, letting them flutter to the floor as he used his cane to push it through the spill. He managed to fling the damp towel from the floor into the bin with a flick of his cane so he didn’t touch the liquid.

The chill settled deeper, so much so that it was jarring. What _had_ Newton done to him? God knows what was in that drink, but who knew what Newton had done to him while he was unconscious? The note he left, as well as the care in making sure his medicine and cane was within reach- it was disarming. Probably a distraction. But from what?

He found his way to one of the kitchen chairs and tried to recall anything- _anything_ \- from the previous night, but it was like wading through a swamp.

Then, at the back of his mind, prickling with the same cold in his bones, he remembered.

“ _Op- Got your coat, Hermann._ ”

The breath left Hermann’s lungs. In a panic, he rushed to stand, dizziness and headache be damned, and yanked opened his coat closet. He personally didn’t put the coat there, but with the slim chance that Newton didn’t know the nature of it, he might have assumed that’s where it went.

The closet bore no such relief.

Hermann spun and looked around his flat, hoping beyond all hope that Newton had just left the coat somewhere. He ran back to his room, checking the floor, the closet, under the bed, within the duvet- anywhere it could be.

But the coat was nowhere.

He pelt was gone.

Hermann collapsed to sit on the bed with a hand over his mouth. He had to breathe. He had to relax.

His father had been right.

~

It was an hour later that Hermann finally made his way to campus. He weakly greeted Tendo when he saw him, looking no worse for the wear beyond his hair being a bit disheveled. But he marched on. He could practically feel Tendo’s concern after him, since hungover or not, Hermann was usually amicable with him regardless of the situation. Today he was nervous. Standoffish. Scared. He tried his best to hide it and blame it on the night before, but Hermann wasn’t good with lying about anything but his species.

He kept marching even after Tendo called questioning after him. He kept marching past his own office. He kept marching until he found Newton’s office and knocked.

The door opened after a few seconds, and Newton, irritatingly looking even more put together then Tendo, winced at him. “Damn. I take back my invitation to bring you out to drink more often, you don’t look so good.”

Hermann was well aware that his eyes were red rimmed, but it wasn’t from the hangover. It was the panic. It was the crying. “Do move out of the way.” He insisted, pushing past Newton and going inside.

Newton shrugged at him. “Okay sure, come on in.” He tugged the door shut behind them.

“Lock the door.” Hermann said, taking a seat in one of the chairs meant for visitors. He was exhausted and wished that he could just go back home, but any moment now, the demands would come. The orders, the threats…

God he wasn’t ready.

Newton was giving him a weird look, but he went ahead and locked the door anyway. Hermann felt his fury building. How could he just stand there, smelling of ancient spells, and pretend to be so oblivious to Hermann’s plight.

Newton chose not to sit back in his chair, and instead sat in the other visitor’s chair beside him. He looked concerned, but he forced a smile anyway. “Okay, if I’d have known getting you drunk would make you talk to me, I’d have done it way sooner.” He let one leg bounce as he focused on Hermann’s face. “Did you try that remedy I left you? It doesn’t look like you did-”

“I poured it out.”

Newton flinched. “…I mean I know it doesn’t exactly taste amazing, but it does help. It’s got electrolytes and nutrients that you-”

“What do you want?” Hermann interrupted him.

Newton narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. “What?”

Hermann huffed. “What do you want from me? Ask, and I’ll do it.”

Newton leaned back in the chair, opening his body and making sure Hermann could see confusion on his face. Hermann wanted to deck him, but who knew what would happen to his coat if he did? “…Is-… Is this about the taxi? You don’t owe me anything for that, man, you were literally on the way.”

Hermann stared incredulously. “…The taxi?”

Newton shrugged. “I mean, I did tell the guy to leave the meter running when I brought you into your place, but it was only like another five bucks, and I overtipped him anyway, it is almost Christmas-”

“Not the taxi, you-” Hermann gripped the arm of the charge until his knuckles were white. “My _coat_ , you fool!”

Newton’s brows dipped. Something seemed to settle in his face, and he held up a finger, gesturing for Hermann to wait, and he made for the door, unlocking it and leaving without a word.

Hermann sighed. He sank down in the chair and clapped his hands over his face as he waited. It seemed as though Newton was done playing nice, and this was where Hermann’s servitude would truly begin. He knew he shouldn’t have trusted a night out with Newton anywhere near. He should have left this place the minute the man was hired and his senses were overridden with his magic.

The minutes ticked by, and his nerves built as his time burnt away like a candle. Any moment now, he’d get his conditions. Any minute, he’d lose what was left of his control to someone more powerful than him. He’d probably be passed around like a-

The door opened, and he was met with a coat to the face. His coat. His pelt. His arms came around it without thinking, and he pulled it to himself, staring at it in shock. Then he lifted his eyes to Newton.

The magic rolled off him in waves, to where he didn’t just smell like stars, he ached like a pulsar, and there was a look in his eyes that almost looked like pain. Hermann convinced himself it was annoyance, like a plan hadn’t worked. Newton sat back behind his desk and shook his computer out of the screen saver. “There, you have your coat back. Sorry.” He began looking over the schedule for the end of winter break, trying to avoid looking at Hermann. “I accidentally left it in the taxi when I dropped you off, which was my bad, I’ll admit that.” He began typing something with more force than he may have meant to. “And I forgot to bring it in from the car when I got here today, so I’m sorry about that too.” He hit the last key unfortunately hard, and glared at Hermann. “But what the hell is your deal with me? What did I ever do to you?”

Hermann’s wide eyes were locked on Newton’s shockingly sincere looking face. He looked genuinely upset and cold, and somehow it brought the fear out of Hermann even more. Hermann chose instead to glare back. Newton knew exactly what Hermann’s ‘deal’ was. “…What are you playing at, Dr. Geiszler? What do you get from messing with me like this!? Are you trying to soften me for some later plans!?”

Newton looked incredulous, computer screen forgotten. “What the flying _fuck in space_ are you talking about? See, you shoulda drank that remedy, man, you’d be in a way better mood, and maybe you’d start making sense-”

“I’m not going to drink some concoction you made to make me _compliant_ , you complete arse!”

“Concoc- Hermann, it was ginger, ginseng, and pear juice, all it was gonna do was re-hydrate you and get rid of your fucking headache!” Newton stood up, and although he wasn’t that tall, Hermann still found the action intimidating with the scent of his magic nearly clouding the room. Hermann stood as well, slower, as Newton continue. “What, did you think I was trying to drug you or something? Jesus, Hermann, why the hell would I do that? What the fuck did I do that made you think I’d do something like that!?”

Hermann was at a loss. Did he have to spell it out? He thought he was making it plenty clear why he was upset with Newton, and now with his coat firmly in his own grasp again, Hermann was feeling marginally more brave. “I’m not amused by this, Dr. Geiszler! Stop playing the fool and tell me what the hell your end game is!”

Newton looked for a while like he didn’t know what to say. He was exasperated, and the confusion aged him by five years. He seemed to find words that reached his eyes in a sad way as he spoke them. “Well I wanted to be friends with you, but apparently you’ve gone ahead and decided that that’s not a goddamn option.”

Before Hermann could respond, the office door swung open again, and Tendo was there in the frame. Newton must not have locked the door again on his way back in. Tendo blinked at them, his hand frozen in the playful knock he was going to give the pane of the door. “Oh, Hermann, you are in here. Glad I found you.” He turned to Newton. “Sorry, I was coming in to ask if you’d seen him-”

Newton gestured to the door with a sigh. “No, please. Have him.” He sat back down and ran a hand through his already messy hair. “We were done anyway.”

Hermann was furious. Why was Newton acting so… strangely? “We are _not-_ ”

“Hermann?” Tendo interrupted, almost loudly. “Not that I don’t think yelling at him is a healthy pass-time, but can I see you in my class for a sec?”

Hermann watched Tendo’s eagerness with caution. But then, he turned back to Newton, who was now deep in files on his computer and ignoring him. He sighed. “Yes. You may have a word.” He clacked his cane down rather hard as he walked toward the door. “We are _not_ through, Newton.”

Newton didn’t answer. Hermann kept an eye on his face as Tendo led him out and tugged the door shut. He was expecting Newton to send a knowing stare after him. He was expecting a smug look, or a threatening one.

He was not expecting Newton to look so hurt.

The door left Hermann’s line of sight, and he followed Tendo through the halls. “Sorry you had trouble finding me,” Hermann mumbled. “Newton has been toying with me for some time, and I’m afraid you came in at a climactic moment.”

“Yeah, yeah, no I get it, just… Hold- hold off on that for a bit.” Tendo thumbed the elevator call button and tapped his foot. Hermann knew Tendo usually liked to take the stairs, as he was a nimble, energetic young man, but he always took the elevator with Hermann despite that. Hermann appreciated it.

He was concerned with how nervous the man seemed though. “…Mr. Choi, are you all right?”

The door opened and Tendo looked at him with a grimace. “Egh. That's 'Tendo' to you until winter break’s up, brother, don’t you start ‘Mr. Choi’ing me until you don’t have a choice.”

Hermann’s nerves eased away. Same old Tendo. “Apologies. I’m afraid I’m a little on edge.”

The elevator trip was silent. The walk down the hall to the workshop would have been equally silent, but Tendo took one glance at Hermann’s nervous gait on their way there and started humming a tune to ease the tension. Hermann let it ease him even more. He wished he could explain more to Tendo about his life. Tendo was a good man, and trustworthy, but Hermann’s secret had to remain so. The magical community had to remain separate from the standard one. It was how it had been for hundreds of years. Hermann told himself this often to keep from feeling guilty.

Tendo went into his classroom first and left the door wide open for Hermann. Hermann strolled in after, and found Tendo already in the center of the room. Hermann gestured behind him. “Will we be long? Would you like me to close the door?”

Tendo kicked a chair out from under one of the tables and sat on it. “No, I got it.”

Tendo lifted his hand and waved it. The door behind Hermann shut.

The sound of the lock clicking shut pounded loudly, and the blood flowing through Hermann’s body followed suit, rushing to his brain and echoing in his ears. Hermann’s feet stumbled him backward against the door harder than he’d meant, slamming into it.

Tendo flinched. He bit his lip and gestured his arms out broadly, and the tables- wide and heavy- and chairs scattered away from the center of the room, leaving only another chair a good distance away from him. A familiar clove like scent tainted the air, much more subtle than Newton’s but enough for Hermann to know what it meant. Tendo pressed his hands together and looked, if anything, a little scared. “Hermann, please sit.”

Hermann kept his back pressed against the door he knew would not grant him freedom. “I’d-… I’d rather stand, if it’s all the same to you.” His voice shook harder than leaf in a hurricane.

Tendo stiffened, but let his hands drop. “…Okay.” He looked to the floor. “I just-… shit, maybe this was a bad idea- You can just go, Hermann, I’m sorry. The door’s not even- it’s _just_ locked, I locked it so no one could come in, but you- obviously you took that the wrong way…”

“You’re a witch.” Hermann said, not meaning to spit the word as harsh as he had.

Tendo nodded. “Yes.”

Hermann took in how pained Tendo suddenly sounded and backpedaled. Tendo was not the enemy here, he was a friend. Right? “Why- How did-… Why didn’t you ever tell me, I-”

Tendo lifted his head finally to regard him with nervous amusement. “Um, excuse me, up until last night I was pretty convinced you were human.” He leaned back in his chair, opening his stance and trying to force a nervous smile. “So what are you?”

Hermann clung to his coat harder. “I’d… I’d rather not-”

“Selkie?”

Hermann went white.

Tendo winced and stood up. “Whoa, easy, easy. I’m not gonna do anything to you, man, come on.” He held his hands up at his defense. “Please-… Please come sit. I’m not talking to you as some curious observer, or somebody with… I dunno, _shady plans_ , or the like, I’m here as a friend.”

Hermann watched him with some caution. He had a point. He gave the door a quick glance. He lifted his hand to the lock and unlocked the door, finding that it yielded to him and would have let him leave. With the barest of sighs, he locked the door again and walked to the chair Tendo left in the middle of the room for him. He sat down and held tighter to his coat than he ever had in his life. “…How did you know I was a selkie?”

Tendo sat back down to make sure he wasn’t intimidating. “I guessed.”

Hermann scoffed.

“No really! I used context clues from what I knew about you already and from what I saw just now.” Tend leaned forward on his knees. “You cling to that coat like a lifeline, and in the time I’ve known you, if you weren’t wearing it or holding it, you had it locked away somewhere near you.” He offered Hermann a smile. “But it wasn’t that, alone. I only knew you were something else because of what you said last night.”

Hermann looked concerned. “What did I say last night?”

Tendo shrugged. “Well at one point, you rebuffed Newt’s attempts to make conversation with you by telling him he smelled like stars.” He gestured to himself. “I’ve been described about the same, so I knew you were something.”

Hermann narrowed his eyes and seethed. Of course it would still somehow be Newton’s fault. Indirectly, but the point stood.

Tendo held a hand up to him. “Hey, don’t worry. I’m literally the best guy to know these things. Well, me and Herc, anyway.”

Hermann’s stomach bottomed out again, for the third time that day. He was going to have an ulcer. “M-Mr. Hansen knows…?”

Tendo nodded carefully. “He was there too, Hermann.”

Hermann pursed his lips and gripped his temples. “And Mr. Hansen is…?”

Tendo blinked. “Oh. Uh, human. He’s just-…” He paused and looked down at his hand to think. “…All right, I’m just gonna cut to the chase so this doesn’t get confusing. Herc and I work for a… an organisation I guess. Our jobs are to continue living as normal, but to work cases at the same time. Help protect the supernatural world and keep it hidden.”

“...An organisation.”

“Yes.”

“Cases?”

“Yeah.” He laced his fingers over his lap and tapped his thumbs together. “You know about Mako?”

Hermann looked nervous again. He did know about Mako. And Mako knew about him.

The day he’d caught her trying to quell her fire, he’d locked the door and helped her relax until the flames had gone away. When she tried to call herself a monster, Hermann revealed his own status, not wanting to allow her to feel like she was the only one with a secret for another second. Since then, she’d frequented his office during office hours, and he would help her keep her emotions at bay- help her learn to have more control. He insisted that she was only coming to study, but he also insisted they light some candles for ambience. ‘Now if only I could find those pesky matches’ he would muse until Mako attempted to light the candles herself. They’d been doing this for months. Now, Mako pinched each wick alight as soon as she walked in, and they worked in pleasant silence.

This made Hermann anxious for her. Tendo and his ‘organisation’ knew about her? …What were they going to do?

Hermann nodded slowly. “Yes. She’s a good girl, Mr. Choi, there’s no reason to do anything to her-”

Tendo lifted his hands defensively again. “Whoa, easy there papa bear, trust me. We’re about _protecting_ the supernatural community. It’s my job to nudge her where she needs to be so she can control herself, I’m not going to do anything to her.”

Hermann creased his brow in thought. “Does she know about you? What you are? That you’re helping her?” Mako had never brought Tendo up before, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t known. Perhaps she’d been sworn to some kind of secrecy.

But Tendo chose then to look a little guilty. “Uh… No. I’m not meant to engage unless there’s an issue, really… But she hasn’t really had any. She’s one of my easiest cases.”

Hermann’s frown decided to stay. “…She’s not had any issues because I’ve been helping her focus. She’s afraid of her abilities, but not using them will _not_ help her control it. She hasn’t had anyone tell her that she’s okay as she is.”

The guilt intensified. He looked down. “…Sometimes it’s safer to keep people in the dark.”

“She thought she was alone, Mr. Choi.”

Tendo winced. “...Can- Can you go back to calling me 'Tendo'? I feel like I’m in the dean’s office being reprimanded.”

Hermann crossed his arms. “Perhaps you ought to be.”

“Ouch.” Tendo leaned away again. “Look, I know our method isn’t the best, but we have to stay hidden and quiet for a reason. It’s policy, it’s just the way we do things.”

Hermann sighed. “It’s an awful policy if you ask me.” He looked down at the coat in his lap. “…If it’s so important, why tell me? Why explain it?”

Tendo pondered hid words. “Well, first of all- and this was Herc’s idea- we wanted to invite you to join up.” He gestured. “We know about every being on the campus. All the professors, all the students, even visitors who come through- we know about it. But we didn’t know about you. Whatever you’re doing to hide it, you do a stellar job. Secondly, you’re my friend, and I jumped at the chance to tell you what I was the minute I had time.”

Hermann leaned away and stared, ignoring Tendo’s second reason. “…Join up?”

Tendo nodded. “I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t want to ask you. But knowing that Mako is doing so well because of you? I’d be an idiot not to offer.”

Hermann kept staring. Eventually, he moved his stare to the floor to debate with himself. Mako _was_ doing well. And he’d often thought of talking to other students who didn’t have anyone to confide in… Would this allow him the chance?

No, it wouldn’t. Because this organisation would require him to keep it quiet. He couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t lie to someone who needed him. “I’m going to pass.”

Tendo gave a short nod. “That’s… fair I guess. I’d like you to think about, I think you’d make a great agent. But I won’t force you.”

Hermann nodded again. “I appreciate your consideration. But I do not think I would be comfortable keeping things from the kids I’m meant to be helping.” He moved to stand. “I also suppose Dr Geiszler is employed at this agency? If you’ll forgive me, I’d prefer not to have to work any closer with him than I am already required.”

The confusion returned in Tendo’s eyes. “Newton?”

Hermann narrowed his eyes and then rolled them. “Oh please don’t patronise me, Tendo, I know what he is. He makes it clear enough. I can nearly smell his magic from _here_ , he has _no_ filter at all. He doesn’t hide anything. And he’s been toying with me. He took my coat last night, he tried to give me some _potion_ this morning, and lord knows what it would have done to me-”

“Hermann,” Tendo interrupted. “If you’re trying to say that Newton is some kind of monster, I need to stop you.”

Hermann scoffed. “Tendo, you haven’t been at the brunt of-”

“Neither have you, Hermann. Newton doesn’t work cases with us, he _is_ a case.”

The silence that followed threatened to collapse on Hermann. He slowly sat back down. “What-… What do you mean he’s a case? Is he a threat?”

“Not in the way you’re thinking.”

“Are- Are you sure? With all that magic coming off of him-… He doesn’t even try to hide-”

“He doesn’t try because he can’t,” Tendo interrupted again. “Newton doesn’t know what he is.”

The floor dropped out from beneath Hermann, and he plunged into a sea of implications. “H-…How can he not… know?”

Tendo shrugged. “It’s not uncommon that a kid doesn’t ever learn they’re a witch if the family member they received the power from is out of their lives. Newton was never taught to hide his magic because he was raised by humans. He was never taught about magic at all. Hermann, I promise you Newt didn’t have your coat out of malice; he doesn’t even know what it is to you.”

Hermann’s throat felt dry. “…And-… And he’s your case?”

“He’s _Herc’s_ case. Herc has been doing this longer than I have, so Newt went to him, because… well Newt is a threat. But again, not in the way you were thinking.” He takes a breath as if preparing for a long tale. “You’ve noticed how powerful Newton is. Like, you sensed me just now, right? How was it in comparison?”

Hermann swallowed before answering. “Yours was muted. It was subtle, I just… assumed that you were giving me a hint of-”

“That was all of it, my man.”

Hermann felt like he’d gone pale.

Tendo continued. “Newton… has a few issues. He’s prone to emotional outbursts and panic attacks, and we’ve been very careful to make sure he’s relatively calm at all times. We’ve got an agent who works at his pharmacy where he gets his meds, and she keeps us informed on any changes.”

Of all of the emotions Hermann was expecting to feel at this sort of news, anger was not at the top of the list. Yet, he felt his head grow hot and his eyes burn. “Why wouldn’t you just tell him? H-He-… He deserves to know. It’s who he is.”

Tendo shook his head. “Listen to me, Hermann. If someone like… say, Mako. If she goes off-”

“Goes _off_?”

“ _Goes off_. Like loses it. Best case she takes out a class room, worst case she takes out the whole school and everyone in it.” He thumbed up to the ceiling at the upstairs floors. “If Newton goes off? If he loses it and his control goes, the whole freaking _city_ is done. And we don’t even know what he might do. You seen ‘Carrie’?”

Hermann glared. “…That is a cruel comparison.”

“But it’s unfortunately accurate, just on a monumental scale. The fabric of space-time can warp around him, he could wipe this city and everyone in it off the fucking map if we don’t handle this carefully. Whether or not you decide to join up with us in the end, you _have_ to let us handle Newton slowly. You can’t tell him.”

The floor seemed to be the most interesting thing in the room, as Hermann was almost terrified to look away at anything else. So he’d been right in a way, all along. Newton was dangerous.

But he didn’t know. Newton was in the dark that he was a ticking time bomb, and it didn’t feel… fair.

Oh god, Newton didn’t know.

Hermann had been treating him as if he did.

‘ _What did I ever do to you?_ ’

Hermann closed his eyes tightly, hoping to force the image of Newton looking so hurt out of his mind, but all it served to do was burn it further into his mind. He took a resolved breath and spoke. “…Are we done?”

Tendo nursed his bottom lip. “Are you okay, Hermann?”

“Yes, I… I just realise that I have some things to amend.” Hermann gave a withered sigh and stood up again. “I’m afraid I’ve been judging Newton based on false information. I owe it to him to… repair whatever damage I may have done.”

Tendo gave it some thought. “I… Yeah. We’re done for now, but… we’re okay, right? Still friends?” He took a short breath. “I know this is a lot to take in, but I seriously wasn’t allowed to tell you before. I swear the minute I knew you were a being I decided to tell you.”

Hermann nodded. “Of course. I apologise if my initial reaction was… less than accepting. You know the way a selkie is normally treated when discovered. My father… he thinks my decision to live primarily outside of the sea is a mistake, and that I will be taken advantage of like many others before me. I’m terrified every moment that he may have been right. But-…” His hand gripped his cane and leaned off of his bad leg. “The sea was no safer than this place. And here, I can properly love the stars.”

Tendo stared for a while before planting a hand over his chest. “That was beautiful, Hermann.”

Hermann went red to the ears. “It was simply meant to be the truth.”

Tendo smiled and stood up. “Right. Well then.” He waved his hands, and all of the tables and chairs skittered back to their original places, causing Hermann to yelp, but miraculously not move.

“Could you _not_ do that!?” Hermann asked, shriller than he’d meant to be.

Tendo snickered and patted his shoulder when he finally got close. “I’m sorry, man, I couldn’t help it. That trick doesn’t even phase Herc anymore, I gotta get my jollies somewhere.”

Hermann looked incensed. “I would appreciate it if you received your jollies from another source!”

Tendo grinned apologetically. “Yeah, okay. I won’t put you on edge anymore than you need to be. Besides, Herc’s kid’s being transferred here for case work as well, I’ll see if I can pull it on him a few times.”

Hermann nodded and made his way to the door. “Thank you for your honesty, Tendo.” He paused at the lock. “…May I say something before I go?”

Tendo, who’d been on his way toward his desk, turned back to him. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Hermann took a calculated breath and turn to face Tendo again. “I will do as you ask and not tell Newton what he is… But I still do not agree that this is the correct way to handle his situation. If working with Mako has taught me anything, honesty is the best approach, and it would be better for Newton to be told than to find out on accident when he may be alone and confused and _scared_.” He looked to the floor. “No one should be alone when they’re scared.”

Tendo crossed his arms and looked to the floor as well. “…It’s out of my hands, doc. I’m sorry.”

Hermann pursed his lips. “Very well.”

~

His knock on Newton’s office door was softer, almost unnoticeable, the second time. He had his coat folded as much as the thing could be and tucked at his side. His face was resolute and his stature as small as he could make it. He didn’t come here to make threats after all.

The door opened to a pleasant, smiling Newton at first. Then, as recognition set in, the happiness left. He looked annoyed and exhausted. The spark of Newton’s magic was already strong before the door had even opened, but now it hummed through Hermann’s body like the effects of a drug. It was sharp, warding Newton from the threat of Hermann’s presence. “What?”

Hermann took in a determined breath. “May I come in?”

“Look, Hermann,” Newton sighed. “If you’re here to yell at me some more, I really don’t have time-”

“I’m not here to yell at you,” Hermann cut him off. He hoped his face was betraying enough of his guilt. “It’s come to my attention that I may have been… misreading some things.”

Newton arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you gonna elaborate on that?”

A sigh escaped Hermann’s lips, and he gripped the bridge of his nose. This level of spice in the air was making him dizzy. “I’m _sorry_ , Newton.” He dropped his hand and stared directly into his eyes to make sure he wasn’t misunderstood. “I was not clear on the events of last night, and I let my clouded perception of you get the better of my good senses.” His ashamed gaze found the floor. “Moreover, I am also sorry for how I’ve treated you in the past. I built you up to be something you’re not, and I regret that immensely. I hope you can forgive my transgressions.”

There was only silence for a few moments, so long that Hermann wasn’t sure if Newton had even been paying attention.

But somehow, he knew what he had said had an effect. The scent of the magic had shifted in a way that felt welcoming now, and Hermann felt warmed by its nigh omnipresence. He lifted his eyed to Newton’s and found they were wide and shocked. Hermann reddened and sank into his shoulders in embarrassment. “For goodness sake, say something!”

Newton blinked. “Do I have to like… go kiss Tendo or something?” He laughed and ran his hands through his hair again. “What the hell did he say to you? Are you being blackmailed to do this?”

Hermann returned to looking grumpy and tried to ignore how oddly calming the excessive magic felt now that he knew Newton couldn’t stop it. It was no longer a threat; it was a window into Newton himself. Hermann rubbed his temples. “He simply put things into perspective for me. I’m doing this of my own accord, I assure you.” He leaned heavily on his cane and swallowed his pride. “Now may I come in? And… do you happened to have any of that hangover remedy left?”

Newton _beamed_ , and he bounced back into his office. “Hell yeah, I basically live on the stuff after a night like last night. Get in here, man.”

Hermann limped inside after him and shut the door. He’d barely made the seat when Newton whistled and lobbed a bottle at him. He caught the thing just barely and watched Newton grab his own bottle from a mini fridge hidden under his desk. Newton ran to the blinds on the windows and pulled them shut so the sun was quelled and left them in the dim light of Newton’s lamp-lit office. He then swung around the desk and sat in the second seat by Hermann, kicking his feet up. “So!” He opened his bottle and grinned at Hermann. “You were gonna keep talking about how cool I actually am and how wrong you were about me?”

Hermann snorted at him and finally smiled, opening his bottle. The magic spilled out of it, but he barely noticed since he was already swimming in the warmth that was Newton’s stardust. “Don’t push your luck, Dr. Geiszler.”  And he drank.

~


	2. Nebula

Against all odds, Hermann was beginning to find Newton’s boisterous attitude endearing. The holiday break for faculty came and went, and Newton had gone out of his way to procure Hermann’s number to keep in touch. Hermann’s holidays were quiet. He didn’t celebrate anything seeing as his family remained in the sea, so he simply enjoyed the time off for what it was- time off.

Time off from everything but Newton’s texts.

They never came with any expectation of a response, but he’d gotten at least one selfie a day. One of Hermann’s favourites was taken by one of Newton’s family members of him standing by his tree in a godzilla onesie with the caption that he had the greatest uncle in the world. Hermann had laughed despite himself and responded only that he hoped Newton didn’t plan on wearing that thing in public. Newton had responded that he would proudly be wearing it on the students’ first day back.

When the time came to finally go back to school to plan for the students’ return, Hermann had a lively step in his walk. He knew it had something to do with Newton no longer being a threat, but he had a feeling there was more to it.

It probably also had something to do with the box that was waiting on his desk when he arrived back to work. It wasn’t very large, but it wasn’t exactly small either. And even though Newton wasn’t at the school yet, the smell of stars irradiated from the box. Hermann didn’t even have to look at the tag to know it was a present from him.

He sat before the box wondering how on earth he deserved this when he’d been nothing but cruel to Newton before now, but those thoughts were silenced when he opened it. Inside was a bronze astrolabe, and Hermann’s breath left him. He absolutely did _not_ deserve this. He would have to find some way to give this back to Newton; he couldn’t accept it.

But god did it do some interesting things to his mood.

Tendo noticed it first when they met for breakfast in the teacher’s lounge. “Do I wanna know what that face is for?” Tendo asked, shoveling an egg into his mouth.

Hermann realised he was smiling as he buttered his toast and ducked his head, forcing it away. He ignored the question. “Do you happen to know what time Dr. Geiszler will be in? I need to have a word with him.”

A smirk found Tendo’s face. “Oh yeah? Get your present did you?” He asked, stabbing at a piece of bacon.

Hermann frowned at him. “I- Yes, I did. But Tendo, I cannot possibly accept it.”

Tendo frowned as well. “What? Why the heck not? It was perfect!”

“You know what he got me?”

“Course I do! He showed me.” Tendo tapped his fork against the table. “He was asking me what you liked, but I didn’t really have an answer besides ‘math’ and ‘space’, so this genius asshole shows up before vacation with this perfect, antique gift that encompasses both.”

…Newton had spoken to Tendo? Before _when?_ Hermann leaned back in confusion. “…What do you mean before vacation?” He’d still been rude to Newton in that time. Tendo must have been mistaken.

Tendo only grinned. “Hermann, my man, he’s been trying to get in good with you since he got here. I dunno how this is a surprise.”

Hermann was red with embarrassment. “…All the same. He shouldn’t have to try and… _win_ my favour. I do not deserve his efforts. Need I remind you I treated him like dirt for a year?”

“Aw come on, Hermann, you’re making up for it now, and you had your reasons.” Tendo shrugged. “It sucks that you can’t explain them, but Newt’s been doing pretty well since you’ve known. He’s generally quick to forgive.”

“He may be, but I am not.” Hermann huffed. “It was a thoughtful gift, but I’ve yet to forgive myself enough to feel I’ve earned it.”

Tendo snickered. “I can already tell you Newt’s gonna be pissed that you think you have to earn anything with him.”

Hermann arched a brow. “I’m not earning anything from him, I’m earning it from myself.”

“That’s probably worse.”

Hermann shook his head. “Besides, I didn’t get him anything in return. I shouldn’t accept it until I can do at least that.”

“You could serious go into Toys R Us and grab a relatively anatomically correct, plastic dinosaur to achieve that, man. Don’t make it sound like it’s hard to do. He is a complicated, yet simple man.”

“I’m going to hold myself to a higher standard than that, Mr. Choi. I feel he’s important enough to get him something meaningful, and I know you know what I mean.” Hermann frowned when Tendo shot him a doubtful look and brought his coffee to his lips. Hermann continued. “For example, what did you get Mr. Hansen?”

Tendo choked on his coffee.

Hermann smirked at him and took a bite of his toast. “I’m glad we’re in agreement then.”

As Tendo coughed to clear his throat, Hermann became aware of a bright static in the air growing stronger. It crept up slowly, purposefully, like a feeling of being preyed upon, but Hermann knew better now. He sighed and rolled his eyes, lifting his own cup (tea rather than coffee) to take a sip. “Good morning Dr. Geiszler.”

There was an indignant noise from behind him, and he turned to regard Newton, who sure enough was trying to sneak up on him. “How’d you know I was here!?”

Hermann grinned into his tea. “You have never once been stealthy.”

Newton pouted and parked himself next to Hermann. “Or you have ears of a damn bat. You really do, they’re huge, but they suit you.”

Hermann arched a brow at him. “You’re not back five minutes, and you already want to insult me?”

“Hey, I said they _suit_ you.” Newton glanced across the table at Tendo, who was taking another sip of coffee to try and clear his throat. “Why’s he dying?”

“I asked him what he got Mr. Hansen for Christmas.” Hermann nibbled on his toast again.

Newton cackled. “Oh man, that is so not breakfast conversation.”

Tendo finally set his now-empty coffee down. “I coulda told him that if I could breathe.” He coughed again.

Hermann glanced between them and was reminded by the interaction that Newton and Tendo were, indeed, friends. They had secrets and stories between them that Hermann didn’t know. He hummed in pleasant thought and sipped his tea again.

“Oh! Speaking of gifts!” Newt spun his chair to face Hermann’s and nearly blew him over with the power of that damned smile. “Did you get yours?”

Hermann leaned back only an inch at how happy the man was. His starlight drew Hermann in like a moth. He flinched and glanced sideways at Tendo, who nodded and stood up, throwing a ‘see you cats later’ into the room as he left. Hermann sighed and closed his eyes, trying to block out some of that light. “Newton… about the gift…”

He _felt_ Newton deflate. “…You don’t like it?”

“God’s sake, Newton, it isn’t that. I love the blasted thing, but I… I can’t accept it.” Hermann kept his eyes on the table and not the dimming light of Newton’s red giant.

“Wha- Yeah you can. Of course you can. It was a gift, I gave it to you. You love it. You can accept it.” Newt tapped his finger on the table. “In fact you have to. I insist.”

Hermann huffed. “I don’t have to do anything.”

“...Is it because it’s from me?” Newton’s voice was unbearably small, and it gripped something in Hermann’s chest. “I thought we were past this, did I fuck something up again?”

Hermann's head snapped up immediately to rebuff the claim. “You stop that right now. Newton, you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“It was too much, wasn’t it?” Newton raked his hands through his hair. "Damnit, I took it way too seriously, I shouldn't have gotten you something so personal, I shoulda gone slower- fuck I don't expect us to immediately be okay, I swear, I get it, I just thought maybe getting you something you like would be _nice,_ but I made it weird-" Behind him, in the sink, the water that was soaking in the coffee pot began to boil. Hermann’s eyes widened.

He quickly leaned toward Newton and caught his wrists before his thought process could devolve any further. “Enough. I don’t know where your head is going, but it’s going the wrong way.” He took a breath and pushed his embarrassment aside. “Newton, I have been nothing but rude to you until last week. I do not think that a few days of apology is enough to merit you giving me expensive gifts.”

Newton seemed to relax a little, and the water settled back to still. He shook his head. “Dude, you apologised though. You admitted you were wrong, it’s not a big deal.”

Hermann narrowed his eyes. “A solid year of me giving you grief, and ‘I’m sorry, I was wrong’ is enough?”

“Sure is.” Newton smiled at him. “Besides, I definitely didn’t realise you actually meant any of the shit you were saying until that whole coat incident. I thought it was just playful banter.” He glanced down at his wrists, still clasped in Hermann’s shaky hold. “Can I have my hands back?”

Hermann pulled his hands away and curled them into twitching fists. “Sorry.”

“See? You’re still apologising! And you feel bad! It’s an apology that you meant, and I can tell. That’s what counts.” Newton reached out and patted his shoulder. “Keep the astrolabe, dude. It’s cool as hell, and it’ll look great on your desk.” With that, Newton stood up and stretched out his back. “See ya later, Herms.” He waved a mock salute and walked back out of the room to his office.

A minute later, Tendo made his way back in the lounge and sat back down next to Hermann. “Nice save.”

Hermann sighed. Of course Tendo was watching. “I thought Newton wasn’t your case.”

“He isn’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m not supposed to keep an eye.”

“Mm.” Hermann finished his toast. He leaned back in the chair and looked down at his tea. “I still don’t understand why he’s so… accepting. I would be furious if someone spent a year making me out to be some scoundrel.”

Tendo shrugged. “Eh. Newt’s a good person. Like I said.” Hermann nodded softly and sipped his tea. Tendo leaned toward him an inch and continued. “Also he’s been flirting with you for months.”

Hermann choked on his tea.

~

Newton did indeed wear the Godzilla onesie when students finally returned a few days later. Hermann had rolled his eyes so hard it could be seen from space and made a point not to acknowledge the hideous thing, or the scribble of ‘PROF. GODZILLA’ on a sticky note that sat under Newton’s room number for the day.

Day two of the students return was not nearly as eventful.

At the end of day three, as Hermann sat in his office, there was a soft knock on his door. It gave way to Mako as he opened it. “Ah! Good afternoon, miss Mori. I’m sad to see you’re not in any of my classes this semester.”

“As am I. I am afraid you are not the only math teacher in this school, but you are the one who helps the most.” She lifted her books into view. “Do you mind if I do my work here?”

“Not at all, Mako. Please, come in.” Hermann limped back into the room. “Let me get the candles.”

Mako brightened when Hermann mentioned candles and sat in her designated seat. Hermann pulled the candles from their place in one drawer of his filing cabinet, setting them down on the windowsill to close the drawer again. Mako rubbed her fingers together until a flame formed. She brought it to her lips, blew once, fast and hard, and sent the flame across the room, landing on a wick. The candle flickered and then stayed.

Hermann smiled at the show. “Very good! You’ve been practicing.”

Mako nodded. “I spent some time with Raleigh Becket and his family. Raleigh is very competitive.”

Hermann smirked and carried the candles to the desk. “I expect you showed him a thing or two?”

“I did.” Mako hummed proudly and pinched flamed upon the candles she hadn’t lit yet once Hermann set them down. “Did you know that he’s a werewolf?”

Hermann sat down and nodded. “I do. He an his brother both.” He tapped beside his nose. “I can smell it on them.”

Mako tilted her head. “Can you smell what I am?”

“I can. It’s likely that Mr. Becket could smell what you are as well. Moreso than me. A wolf’s sense of smell is astounding.”

“What does it smell like?”

Hermann leaned back in his chair and pondered. “A bit like someone has thrown cinnamon into a bonfire.”

Mako smiled and ducked her head, opening her book but not looking at it. “Does Raleigh smell like wet dog?”

Hermann snorted and sent Mako a warning look. “He smells like sharp leaves and nightfall.” He pointed at her book. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

Mako let her eyes finally fall to the book as she began her work. Hermann continued grading papers as he had been doing before Mako arrived. For a while, there was silence. Then, “You seem to be getting along with Dr. Geiszler now.” Mako glanced at the astrolabe that she knew wasn’t there before. Her gaze lifted to Hermann again. “Has something changed since the last time we talked?”

Hermann went pink, but turned a telling look to Mako anyway. He pointed at her book. “Back to work, miss Mori.”

Mako nodded, but didn’t hide her smile. She resumed her work as asked.

~

The talk with Hercules Hansen happened later than Hermann had expected. Herc had asked him to the gymnasium office one morning before classes, and Hermann was greeted by Herc’s enthusiastic bulldog once inside. “Oh hello there, good boy.” He said, his voice dripping with affection.

The dog, Max, let his tongue happily lull to the side and lied down on the floor by Hermann’s feet.

Hermann laughed and leaned over onto his cane, reaching down to scruff the exposed belly. “Ooh, aren’t you lucky it’s only my leg that’s trouble and not my back. I’d not be able to reach you otherwise.”

The door opened behind him, and Herc made his way inside. He grinned at Max and shook his head. “Damn good thing I’m not expectin’ you to be a guard dog.” He reached down and scruffed either side of his face. “You know we trained him to signal when he’s near a being, just like this. But the lazy thing learned that lyin’ down gets him belly rubs, so now he’ll alert us to anybody with hands.”

Hermann smiled at Max who was still staring up at him from his back. “Ah, so he’s an informant. Who’s a good informant? Is it you, you soft boy?” He resumed rubbing Max’s belly until he pronounced him thoroughly loved.

Herc chuckled at the scene. “Thanks for coming, Dr. Gottlieb. I’m sorry it took me so long to reach out. Come on, have a seat.” He walked past Hermann and Max and sat down at his desk, pulling open a drawer.

Hermann stood up straight and made his way over to the seat. “I apologise for not reaching out myself. I’ve been rather busy.”

“Making up with Newton?”

Hermann froze for a second, but eventually sat in the chair. “Planning the rest of the school year, but yes. I’ve also been busy… making it up to Newton.”

“You’re doin’ a good job with him. Tendo’s told me you’ve been keeping him in line.” Herc tugged a stack of papers out of the drawer and shut it.

Hermann frowned. “…I don’t think I appreciate you talking about him like a criminal.”

Herc nodded. “Poor choice o’ words. But Tendo’s told me you were aware of the circumstances.”

“I am. Has he also told you that I disagree with them?” Hermann was going to stand his ground on this issue with every official of this organisation if he had to.

Herc sighed. “He has. Though I wish you would reconsider our offer for you to join up. I think you could do some amazing work with us.”

“I’m doing precisely what I need to be doing, right where I am.” Hermann leaned forward on his cane again. “If you’ve only called me in here to try and employ my services again, I may as well cut this meeting short.”

“I’m not. Not entirely. I promise.” Herc leaned back in his chair, aloof. “My son has been transferred to this school this semester, and I wanted to know if I could list you as a trusted source.”

Hermann tilted his head in suspicion. “Source of _what_ exactly? You should know that my students’ business is their own, and I won’t go spreading it about because you ask for it.”

“I’m not asking for that either.” Herc leaned his elbows on his desk and heaved a sigh. “We want to be sure that _you_ can be trusted to give information to if need be. You may have a student in your class who needs a certain brand of care taken when dealing with their abilities or identities. We want to make sure that we can warn you what precautions need to be taken.”

Hermann squinted at him. He inhaled slowly. “I already know what many of my students are. But you know that, don’t you?”

Herc shrugged. “S’pose I’m guilty.”

“Ask what you mean, then. Ask me to work with your cases when you can’t be around.”

Herc shook his head. “It’s not nearly that complicated. But you are doing some great work with miss Mori-”

“Tendo would absolutely be capable of working with Mako if he was _allowed_.” Hermann leaned forward and gripped the edge of the desk. “And Newton is perfectly capable of controlling himself as well, if you would give him the damn chance.”

Herc held up a hand to silence him. “First of all, Newton is a special case. And I don’t make these rules. We are a containment program for the greater good.”

Hermann huffed in frustration. “That’s all well and good to believe when you’re a human, and you employ beings who are already capable of keeping themselves in check, but when you are dealing with scared and confused children, or even adults, it is not nearly the same. These people will hear ‘containment’ and feel like they’re something meant to be locked away. If your aim is to keep their stress levels high, then by jove, you’re succeeding.”

“Hermann, slow down. The PPDC has been around for a while and has run this way since its inception.” Herc laced his fingers together as if he was staving off forming his hands into fists. “It isn’t that I don’t hear you; I do, and I get it. But you can’t expect this organisation to change its policies on the suggestion of one man after hundreds of years of successful work.”

“PPDC?” Hermann questioned, while his mind readied for an onslaught he knew was building within himself and readying to explode.

“Paranormal Protection, Detection, Containment.” Herc ticked their ‘services’ off on his fingers.

Hermann gave a short nod. “I see.” He gripped his cane to keep his hands from flinging out and hitting something. “Then allow me to let you in on a little perspective. As a being of otherworldly nature, I feel I have the authority to tell you that none of your services are designed for _us_. If your organisation has been around for hundreds of years, than its purpose upon creation was to make _humans_ feel safer. People like you. Protect the humans from the beings that you may consider dangerous. Detect the beings so they can be quickly located in the event something goes wrong, and containment or _imprisonment_ for those beings you cannot control.” Herc opened his mouth, probably in the company’s defence, but Hermann didn’t let him speak. “Trying to ‘contain’ us is cutting us off from others _like us_. If it weren’t for me, Mako would be alone, believing herself to be some sort of cosmic mistake, because the only thing Mr. Choi is allowed to do is watch and try to clean up if something goes wrong.

“And moreover, if you’re using Mr. Choi as some sort of litmus test on whether or not what you’re doing is acceptable to beings, then I should inform you that he was chomping at the bit to share his secret with someone finally. When he found that I was neither human nor case, he jumped at the chance to tell me what he was and what he could do. So no matter what he says, you must look at his actions and not the words he’s been trained to say.”

“Hermann-”

“ _So,_ to answer your question, yes. You may inform me of ‘cases’ in my classes. At the very least so that they have someone in their lives who will actually _help them_.” Hermann stood and stabbed his cane into the floor. “Are we finished?”

Herc gave a sigh that showed he knew he wasn’t going to be able to argue. Or perhaps that he couldn’t. “Yes. That’s all.”

Hermann nodded. “Good day, Mr. Hansen.”

He turned away and walked for the door. Before he got there, the door swung open to a young man with a strong face and broad chest. He looked at Hermann and back to Herc.

Herc lifted a hand to him. “Hermann, this is my son. Chuck, this is Dr. Gottlieb. I told you about him already.”

“Yeah, ya did. Good to meet you.” Chuck held his hand out to shake.

Against his own annoyance, Hermann did. “Wonderful to meet you as well.”

Beneath them, Max had trotted over, not only to greet someone who was clearly one of his beloved masters, but also to show Chuck that he hadn’t forgotten his little party trick. He hopped once at Chuck’s leg (to his amusement), and then he turned his short body back to Hermann, where he quickly sat his butt down and rolled onto his back.

Hermann rolled his eyes. Chuck was watching as Hermann leaned down and took Max’s face in his thin hands. “Tattle-tale.”

~

It turned out that more strange things happened around Newton than Hermann had thought, now that he was around more frequently. He’d watched Newton get overexcited about octopi and their problem solving abilities in the hallway once, and the light bulbs overhead blew in their cases. Hermann attributed it to a short. Newton had expressed frustration once in the library at the school board for turning down his proposal for an experiment he wanted to perform for the students that involved blast shields and blowing up a pressure chamber, and books flung themselves off the shelves. Hermann barely caught and reshelved as many as he could before Newton noticed while ensuring him that the nature of the experiment was not the problem; It was the fact that he was proposing doing it inside his classroom.

His advice seemed to solve the issue when, three days later, he got invited out of his planning period to stand with Newton and his class behind blast-proof screens in the field behind they school as Newton gave them all a lesson on explosive decompression. Newton was ecstatic, and Hermann was terrified, but feeling the heat of Newton’s static wrapping around him was enough to ground him and tell him that he was safe here.

There was also Newton’s arm gleefully around his waist, sending that spice into his body to hum with that same excitement. It seeped through his massive parka- his hidden pelt- and bled into his bones. God, he wanted so badly to know what else Newton could do with his magic. Knowing how bright and wide eyed Newton’s soul was, he could only imagine the things he could create. But the PPDC wanted him to keep it all hidden. The PPDC wanted him to stay unaware and actively held back his potential because they were _scared_.

Hermann didn’t realise he was clinging to Newton until Newton nudged him. “Hermann, you can let go now, it’s over!” He'd called over the muffled silence brought on the earmuffs Hermann had been given. Hermann felt himself go red, but he could easily blame it on the cold.

He wasn’t sure what else his mind had decided that day, but he knew at least that he was going to make sure Newton wasn’t alone when he found out what he was. He knew it was coming. He didn’t know when. But Hermann would be there for him no matter what happened.

How had so much changed in so little time?

~

It was a month later, and Hermann found himself looking forward to Newton’s nightly visits after classes were over. Even now, with Newton asleep on his desk, head on his arms, resting on the book he’d been rambling on about just an hour ago, Hermann was happy to have him there. He had watched the candle flames climb just a bit higher at Newton’s enthusiasm all night. As long as they didn’t lick the ceiling, the candles could grow as much as they wanted.

Now, in the silence of the room as Newton slept, the candles were low of their own accord, and Hermann could do nothing but stare at Newton’s peaceful face. His heart was twisting in his chest as the magic clouding around Newton made him feel in the dim light like he was settled deep in a new nebula, before the cataclysmic creation.

It took Hermann’s breath away in a way that confused him. “What happened to us, Newton…?” He asked the man’s sleeping form. Newton, out cold, did not answer. Hermann swallowed his nerves. “There’s so much I wish I could tell you… You’re so strong, and you don’t even realise it, and I want nothing more than to tell you what you could do- what you could _be_.

“I’ve grown fond of you, you fool. I’m afraid your gravity has pulled me in. I don’t know what else to do but let it happen.” Hermann reached out slowly and brushed his fingers through Newton’s hair. It sparked with static, kissing his fingers and sending shivers to his spine. Hermann sighed. “…You are the most powerful witch I have met. I can’t wait to see what you can do. I’m a… selkie. I was afraid of you because I was afraid you would take advantage of me. I can’t apologise enough to you for believing something so foolish.”

Newton remained asleep. Hermann sighed. He stood from his seat and and found Newton’s leather jacket on the coat rack he had in the corner. He draped it carefully over Newton’s shoulders and gave him a smile. “Until tomorrow, Newton.”

He unlocked the drawer where his coat lay safe and pulled it around his shoulders. He could still smell the magic that had seeped into the thing in that short time it was in Newton’s possession, and from Newton's tactile nature in general. Hermann just wanted to bask in it. He cast Newton’s sleeping form another smile and left his office.

They had stayed rather late into the evening, he learned, as he checked his watch and found it already thirty past nine. He knew there was one more bus that ran by his home, so he wouldn’t have to go back and rouse Newton to drive him home, as he’d done previously. Newton would have offered if he had been conscious, and Hermann would have accepted.

He’d have the same war the whole trip with himself about whether or not to invite Newton inside.

By the time Hermann reached the bus stop, he was gripping his cane too hard and frowning to try and cover the pink in his cheeks. The bus arrived with a load squeal of the brakes, and Hermann climbed on board. Aside from the driver, whom Hermann flashed his bus pass to and promptly ignored, there was one other, smaller person on the bus, in a hooded sweatshirt and leaning against the window toward the back. She appeared to be asleep. Hermann did himself a favour and sat toward the front, nearer to the door, away from the shady figure.

The trip was quiet. It took barely fifteen minutes, and Hermann thanked the driver for his time as they arrived at his stop. He stood and gave a glance back at the sleeping passenger-

-Who was now undeniably awake. He still couldn’t make out her face, but he had no doubt that she was looking directly at him. Hermann's throat grew tight with fear, as did his chest, and he hurried off of the bus. The passenger did not follow, but as the bus pulled away, she kept her gaze on him until she was driven out of view. Hermann felt his heart pounding at how startling it had been, but he tried to calm himself down; It was just a strange woman on a bus- nothing more. Besides, she was gone now. Everything was fine. Hermann took a breath and began his last march home.

It was the smell of fuel that reached his nose first. An instinctual urge to bolt filled him, but he marched faster instead of fully panicking. It could have just been gasoline. This was a city after all, and there were cars everywhere. But then, the metallic burn of blood caved in his senses, and his vision tunneled. Instead of toward the front door of his home, he took off running as fast as his bad leg would allow him toward the edge of the bay less than thirty feet away. He had to make it to open water.  The scent was unmistakable.

There was a warlock on his street.

Before he made it even ten feet from the railing around the bay, he felt a force grip his chest and lift him from the ground. He tried to cry out, but the air was squeezed out of his lungs, and he was flung against a wall. That force closed around his throat, and he scratched at the grip to try and free himself. But there was nothing. He succeeded only in running thin, red welts down his own skin. His teeth sharpened as he tried to fight the magic and shift his form, but his vision was darkening at the edges. He couldn’t focus. The smell of blood and the fear was just too damn strong.

Sauntering into his limited view came a man in a loud suit, absurdly tall, and deep, bluish veins scrawling from his hand up to the sides of his throat. He split a large, smug grin across his face and leaned down to regard Hermann’s struggling form. “It’s easier to just sleep, kid.” He said, his eyes hidden behind the ridiculous and unnecessary sunglasses he wore.

Hermann tried to swing out at the stranger, but he was weakened, and the man’s power pressed them back into the wall once he knew Hermann was going to try to fight back. He had since dropped his cane, he had no means of over powering this man, and he couldn’t breathe. Tears stung his eyes, but he was light headed and couldn’t focus. If the man said anything else, Hermann couldn’t hear it past the blood rushing through his veins and pounding in his ears.

Before the last slivers of consciousness left him, he sent one single prayer into the cosmos that Newton would be okay without him.

~

He woke with a gasp. The breath left him in a fog in the cold air, and his back arched away from the cold ground he was on. Aside from the stinging of the marks along his throat, the only ache was the headache from lack of oxygen. His limbs felt stiff, and his lungs couldn’t pull in enough air in the cold-

Cold.

He was _cold_.

As he became more aware of his body, he knew with a sinking feeling that his coat was gone. He only had his cardigan and his blazer, and the snow had begun seeping into his clothing and soaking him to the bone.

A sob was the first sound that escaped his throat. It ripped its way out, despite the pain in his throat, like another gasp for air, and his hands come over his face to catch the rest that followed. The tears fell next, no holds barred, and Hermann curled into his side.

God, his father had been right after all.

He couldn’t calm down, but he couldn’t stay here. He barely forced himself to sit up and lean against the wall, giving himself a few more seconds of terrified gasping before patting weakly at his pockets. He had to call someone. He had to call Tendo, or Herc, perhaps they could do something. He wanted to call _Newton_ -

Beside his own phone, tucked into his pocket, was a second one. It was unfamiliar and small, a flip phone of all things. With hands shaking harder than dead leaves in the wind, he flipped it open.

It rang, and Hermann threw it to the ground. It didn’t break- he was too weak to have achieved that- and continued to sing his swan song at him from the imprint it left in the snow. Hermann scrambled after it and picked it up, glaring at it through the cascade of tears. Against his better judgement, he answered and lifted it to his ear. “…Hello…?” His voice was weak and carried not nearly enough of the hate he had wanted it to. All it had for the caller was fear.

For a moment, there was silence. Then finally, a response.

“ _Sort your affairs. Say goodbye to your friends._ ” There was a burning sensation in his leg, singeing in where he already had a deep scar, and Hermann cried out. Whoever had his coat wanted him to know he could do whatever he wanted with it if he didn’t comply. The familiar voice continued. “ _Keep this phone with you; You’ll receive your orders soon._ ” And then the call disconnected.

The phone slipped free from Hermann’s grasp, and he lifted a hand to his mouth, covering it to keep another humiliating sob from escaping.

Death would have been more forgiving.

~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this chapter felt rushed at all, but I was never planning on focusing too long on the month of time between the end of chapter one and the end of chapter two. :V All the good stuff happens from here on out anyway.


	3. Event Horizon

Newton was having a good god damn day when one of his classes came in with the news that dropped like a brick into the pit of his stomach. Several of his students had his class following Hermann’s, and they all looked some measure of shocked or disappointed when they had walked in. Newton had felt a panic that came with his overactive imagination. It always started worst case and wound down, much to his dismay, so the first thing it told him was that Hermann was dead. Somehow, it made logical sense, seeing as Newton had somehow missed Hermann all morning, and Hermann didn’t answer when he knocked on his locked office door.

He straight up interrupted his class to ask one of the students what was wrong with Hermann, first to actually find out why they were distressed, and secondly to quell that fear.

That was how he learned that Hermann was resigning. Today was his last day. Then he would never teach at this school, or maybe even in this town, again.

Newton, true to spontaneous form, canceled the rest of that class. And for good measure, canceled the next one as well. He assigned some written work, which he only ever did for emergencies, and made a beeline for Hermann’s office. It couldn’t be true. Hermann couldn’t be leaving. Things had been going really good, if Newton had anything to say about it, and boy did he.

As he marched through the hallway, he was vaguely aware of a creaking in the walls. He allowed himself a scant second to wonder about the building being rather old to still be settling before he shunned that irrelevant train of thought to focus on his approach to Hermann’s ajar office door.

“But if we _find_  your coat then-” He heard another familiar voice inside.

“Shh, miss Mori…” Newton pushed the door open, and Hermann’s eyes met his briefly, filled with something akin to fear, and a sadness he’d only seen in him once before, during a time he couldn’t recall specifically-

And then Hermann’s gaze dipped away to the surface of his desk. “Mako, I assure you, even if there was something you could do, I wouldn’t let you. There’s no way around it. I have to leave.”

Mako turned to Newton’s intrusion and looked initially like she thought he was the cause of whatever this was. Hermann rested a hand on her arm and drew her attention back. She read the strange look in Hermann’s eyes and sighed, dropping her hand over Hermann’s. “I am going to get Raleigh.” She walked to the door and slipped past Newton with a short bow.

Newton barely acknowledged it and took her place immediately in front of Hermann at his desk. Everything was packed away in a box, the computer was off, but the astrolabe was sitting just in front of him, as if he’d been studying at it, reluctant to put it away. Somehow that helped push Newton to speak. “You’re resigning?” He meant it as a statement, but he phrased it as a question to give Hermann a chance to explain himself.

Hermann had clasped his hands together and leaned them to his mouth, like a prayer, form tight as he seemed to be trying to hold in some sort of emotion. He took a slow breath. “I’m afraid it’s time. Yes. I’m resigning.” He looked up into Newton’s eyes like it was the hardest thing in the world to do.

Newton could only stare back. “Why? Hermann, we were- I mean why would you leave? Did somewhere else offer you tenure or something?”

Hermann’s eyes dropped to the astrolabe again. “If only…” He leaned his forehead on his hands. “My situation has changed. I am unable to continue my employment here.”

“Well where are you going? What will you being doing? How far away?”

Hermann lifted his head and looked like he was in pain. “I don’t _know_ , Dr. Geiszler! All I know is that I won’t be here.”

Newton leaned back in the chair and reached up to muss his hair. “But why!?” He felt a fury building in his chest. Why wasn’t this something he was told? “Hermann, I know we had a rocky as hell start here, but why wouldn’t you tell me you were thinking about leaving? I thought we were… Ya know, I thought we were cool.”

“This wasn’t planned,” Hermann said, as if he hoped it was the last word.

It only fueled Newton’s annoyance. “That’s even _worse_ , man! Why won’t you just tell me?” He sucked a in a breath as a thought occurred to him before he was even finished speaking. What if Hermann didn’t want to be around him anymore? That was how it started and how it had been for a year. What if he had decided trying to be friends with Newton was a mistake? “…Hermann, did I do something?”

Hermann’s eyed widened, and his arms dropped to the table. “No, Newton- It isn’t you, please don’t think that-”

Newton threw his arms out. “Then what other reason is there!? You don’t wanna tell me why you’re leaving, and you shoot down my questions!”

Hermann finally glared at him, feeling a bit more like he should, but it was still so ladened with woe that Newton couldn’t take it. “It isn’t as if this was my idea, Newton! I want nothing more than to stay, but I can’t, and that’s all there is to say! I wouldn’t do this if I-” He stopped himself by snapping his mouth shut and squeezing his eyes shut. Newton could almost see the words ‘-had a choice’ as Hermann strangled them.

Newton leaned forward, concern creasing his eyes. “…Herms, is someone making you do this?”

Hermann ducked his head and covered his eyes.

Newton leaned closer. “…Are you being blackmailed?”

”Newton-”

“You gotta help me out, dude.” Newton lowered his voice so he wasn’t startling to Hermann. “Listen, you’re kinda my best friend here, and I’m about to never see you again, give me _something_.”

Hermann barely lifted his gaze, and the air froze in Newton’s lungs at the look on his face. Hermann looked like he’d just been told he had three weeks to live. “I do not want to leave you, Newton,” He said, too quietly and too shaky. “But I don’t… have a choice,” He finally admitted.

That was all Newton needed to hear. He dared to reach over and place his hand over Hermann’s. “It’s gonna be okay, Herms. You don’t have to go.”

Hermann huffed in disbelief. “Newton-”

“I mean it.” He stood up and hurried out of the office. Somebody had _something_  on Hermann, and from what he had heard, it had something to do with Hermann’s coat. Exactly what that meant, Newton wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t about to let Hermann deal with this alone.

~

He tried Tendo first. Tendo was someone he knew was good friends with Hermann for a while, so if anybody was going to be privy to why Hermann had to leave, it was him.

If only he could get the man to stay still.

“I’m just saying, he must have told you why he has to leave, right?” Newton struggled to keep up with Tendo as he hurried down the hallway. Tendo was short as well, but he still had Newt by an inch or two, and the bastard was all legs.

Tendo gave a frustrated sigh and glanced back over his shoulder at him. “Newt, you gotta take my word for it here, I’m trying my best to help, but I really need to get to Herc, and you should get back to work.”

Newton rolled his eyes and hurried to his side. “It’s too late for that now, dude, I already emailed my last class and told them to take a free period.”

Tendo gripped the bridge of his nose and skid to a stop. “All right, stop. This isn’t something you need to be mixed up in right now, okay? Can you just trust that we’re working on it?”

Newt shook his head. “Absolutely not. Let me help.” He crossed his arms.

Tendo made an agonised noise and turned away, marching for the gymnasium again. “Newt, brother, I wanna tell you everything, I swear, but I do not have the time to handle that right now, and neither do you.”

“Oh come on!” Newt threw his arms wide. “I have plenty of time! My friend is in trouble- _your_  friend is in trouble, and I want to help, but nobody is telling me _shit!_ ”

Ahead of Tendo, one of the pane glass windows spiderwebbed and shattered inwards. Tendo skid to a stop and jumped away from the glass toward the opposite wall, slamming against it to avoid the shards.

Newton jumped as well. “Whoa!” He hurried after Tendo and touched his arm, looking him over. “You okay? What the fuck was that!?” He turned to the window, trying to see what must have broken it.

Tendo snatched his arm to keep him there. “Newt!”

Newt spun back to him, eyes wide, and Tendo looked… afraid? “What?”

Tendo’s hands gripped too hard on Newton’s sleeves, a bit desperately. “Please. Calm down, go back to your office- Go back to _Hermann’s_  office, maybe just spend some time with him, okay? We’ve got a lead, we’re working on it, and as soon as we know anything, we’ll call you.” He pushed away from the wall and left his hand, wrapped in a rosary, on Newt’s chest. “Please trust me. Please.”

And with that, Tendo left him in the hallway, jogging down the hall and around the corner.

Newton was left even more confused than before. Tendo _did_ know something. Herc apparently knew something. Hell, _Mako_  knew something. Everybody knew something but him-

Mako.

Newton turned on his heel and took off in the other direction. He had to talk to Mako. Tendo was determined to keep Newton in the dark, but Mako might be more willing to divulge what she knew if Newton was willing to help, right?

~

When he finally tracked Mako down, he hadn’t meant to. He wasn’t able to find her, and he’d decided that he would instead go back to Hermann and see what he could get out of him. There was a pain growing in him that nobody would talk to him about what was happening, but the fact that Hermann wasn’t telling him? That stung the worst.

So when he heard voices spilling from Hermann’s door, he froze a good few yards away and pressed himself against the wall to listen.

“-Mr. Becket, I’m telling you I don’t know who that is,” Came Hermann’s exhausted tone. Mako must have found Raleigh.

“I don’t get how you don’t.” Raleigh’s drawl was always aged far more years than he actually was. Newt had always thought the kid had been through hell, but he never once tried to dig into his past; Raleigh didn’t like him, not even as a teacher, and Newt wasn’t about to push his luck. At least he studied. Raleigh kept talking. “That guy’s one of the biggest names in the black markets.”

“Have you told your friends?” Asked Mako. “You said you have friends who are trying to help you.”

He heard Hermann hum in nervous agreement. “I have, but they… they don’t know how to find him. Mr. Chau’s whereabouts are unknown, they told me all their recent sources were out of date.”

Newton frowned. Chau? Chau… Where did he know that name? He crouched against the wall and held his face in his hands.

Hermann _was_  being blackmailed. And Hermann’s friends- likely Tendo and Herc- weren’t going to be able to help if Hermann’s words were anything to go by. But why the hell would Tendo and Herc know anything about some black market dealer?

“Wait, do you smell that?”

Why would _Hermann_  have anything to do with black market dealer?

“Mr. Becket, I have been _crying_ , I cannot smell much of anything right now.”

Wait.

“It smells like… cloves.”

_Wait._

Newton remembered where he knew that name.

He was sprinting down the hall before he could think about it. He heard Hermann’s door swing open in the distance, and he thought he’d heard his name called, but it wasn’t important. He had to get to his office.

He knew that name.

_He knew that fucking name._

Newton swung his office door opened- it was never locked, you never knew when a student would need something- and he threw himself over the pane of his desk. He pulled open the top drawer, where he kept pencils, pens, questionable experiment ideas, and business cards, and oh that’s where he left that wrist band from that club Tendo took him to- No, Newt, focus, _f_ _ocus!_

He yanked out a year old, folded piece of paper that he’d all but forgotten about. He sat up on the desk, legs dangling over the edge, and he unfolded the note.

_Hannibal Chau_

_50 Caswell Avenue_

A deep, rumbling, threatening memory echoed in Newton’s head. “ _Drop by if you change your mind. We’d be happy to have you._ ”

Newt balled the paper up and shoved it in his pocket. He grabbed his leather jacket to shield himself against the cold and ran out, heading for the door. His phone hummed in his pocket, and he found Hermann’s number staring back at him when he pulled it free from its prison. He sighed and declined the call. He’d apologise to Hermann after he got done saving his ass.

~

Newton felt absurdly out of place when he arrived at the address. The facade of the building screamed dilapidated warehouse, but the bouncers outside gave way to the fact that there was clearly a club within. Or something. The sun had set, the night was quiet, and line outside was full of people in the ritziest dress he’d ever seen; three-piece suits, lavish dresses with trains, a few people in line were wearing elaborate masquerade masks over their eyes.

And here stood Newt in a leather jacket, sea monster t-shirt, and corduroy pants. “Man, are you fucking kidding me…?”

The line was lengthy, at least thirty people strong, but it was moving quickly, and Newton wasn’t about to let it be an excuse not to go in. That bleach blond piece of trash had something over Hermann, and Newton wasn’t gonna let him get away with it.

What did Hannibal even want with Hermann? What had Hannibal even wanted with _Newt_ for that matter? That was never made clear to him when he’d arrived in town, and Hannibal had caught him in a corner at the bar. He’d offered him a position in his organisation, claimed he was a fan of Newton’s energy and would love to see his work. He ended his spiel with a promise that they’d own the whole town, but Newton didn’t care enough about that end game to even give the offer a thought. He blew him off. Hannibal barely gave him a shrug. He jotted down his name and the address with his parting line, and he left Newton alone.

Had he been in danger back then of the same thing happening to Hermann now? Why was Hannibal after scientists? What exactly was his black market business?

Newton supposed he was about to find out.

As he waited, he realised that he had absolutely no plan to get inside. Should he show the note? Should he drop his name? He was technically invited. It didn’t seem to make much sense how people were getting in. Many people got to the door, and the bouncers watched, unamused, as they tried a series of passwords to try and get in, but no matter what they said, or how fancy the dress, they were turned away. Those who were allowed in had said nothing, simply standing in all their glitz and ego before the bouncers lifted the velvet rope and stood out of their way. Some people said nothing and were still kicked out. God, Newton had no idea what to do.

He studied accepted clientele as hard as he could. Still, say nothing, look disappointed like a mother who’d just found drugs in her son’s jeans, and in they went. Every single person who went inside was intimidating as hell. Newton was all of 5’7” in a sea of 5’10” and up. If he was going to look even remotely intimidating, he was going to have to reverse Peter Pan this bitch and think some seriously infuriating thoughts.

Five people left ahead of him, and _the dean wouldn’t approve his sodium replica volcano experiment._

Four, and _he’d lost his favourite glasses over the holidays and had to resort to an older, thicker pair that he hated-_ oh but wait, Hermann complimented them last week, _shit!_ Keep thinking, Newt…

Three, and _Tendo and Herc are privy to more of Hermann’s secrets than him._

Two, and _Hermann is leaving the school._

One, and _Hannibal goddamn Chau was blackmailing Hermann into leaving, and he’s hiding just beyond these meat head assholes like a coward._

By the time he got to the bouncers, Newton’s gaze could have melted glass. He stared at the bouncers like they’d personally offended him, and he watched them look between each other, looking rather… startled. Startled was a good word.

Then, against all logic, the velvet rope was lifted, and Newton was allowed to pass. He walked between them and breathed free the lungful of air he was holding, but the hate did not dissipate. He was gonna find Chau and deck him in the face if he could find a way to reach up that damn high. He resolved himself to the plan and passed through a long hallway and pushed a velvet curtain out of the way to emerge into the main room.

But it was not a club like he’d thought. It looked like some macabre museum. On some level, Newton was on cloud nine. He recognised ancient ‘weapons’ that had been designed back in the day to kill monsters, regular guns, and he saw deformed skulls and strange, twisted depictions of creatures suspended in ammonia. This read like a Ripley’s Believe It or Not style tribute to fantasy and the supernatural, but if the people around him scribbling numbers on slips of paper and handing them to officials were anything to go by, this was an auction.

A deep, dark grey green form caught the corner of his eye and drew his gaze to the back wall of the room. Along it were several strange articles of clothing along with normal ones. There was a least one tailcoat that appeared to be made of some scaled material, several kimonos, a cloak-

And Hermann’s fucking coat.

Newton made a beeline for it immediately. Suddenly the stares he was getting for not even remotely fitting in with the atmosphere of the room were not important. He reached the wall in seconds and checked the coat up and down for damage. He ran his hand over a mark he’d always known had been on the coat; it was sunken into the material like a chemical burn, and he’d once noted the coincidence that it hung right over Hermann’s bad leg. He’d spent too damn long looking at Hermann in this thing.

But that meant he knew that the small, round cigarette burn settled within the strange mark was brand new. Newton’s fury was renewed.

“Hey. Look but don’t touch, kid.” That deep rumbling voice was suddenly no longer just a memory, but right behind him. It had once made Newton nervous.

Now it just pissed him off.

Newton narrowed his eyes and turned around to face the source of the voice. Sure enough, the man he’d known only briefly, Hannibal Chau was standing there in all his gaudy glory. Extravagant suit, ridiculous gold shoes, and those sunglasses placed over a scarred eye. He must have lost it at some point, and that was why he wore those shades regardless of the time of day or level of light.

“Nice to see you. You reconsidering my offer?” Hannibal smirked at him.

“Fuck no.”

Hannibal nodded, as if there was nothing else to say. He turned to the coat. “Here for the auction then? That’s a good piece. Hundred percent genuine seal, barely damaged.”

Newt narrowed his eyes and glanced back at Hermann’s coat. “A little more damaged than it should be,” He mused aloud, zeroing in on the cigarette burn again. Who the hell did Hannibal think he was, taking some guy’s coat? That was the cheapest level of theft to steal from a disabled man.

Hannibal laughed. “Oh this?” He gestured to the burn. “Standard compliance negotiation, my friend. This is a warm piece, and it comes with a servant. Got this one live.” He patted the pocket on the side. “Once you buy, there’s a cell in this pocket with one number in it. You call that number, and you’ve got the next best thing to a thrall at your beck and call. ‘Fraid he’s not much of a looker, but he’ll do good work, I’m sure. 400k starting bid.”

Newt was already seeing red. “Or, uh, it’s free because it doesn’t fucking belong to you.”

Hannibal’s smile slowly dropped. He tilted his head. “Got it fair and square and well within my rights, kid. And that’s tough to do in a town run by the PPDC.”

“Except that you _stole it!_ ” Newt was incredulous. How the fuck could Hannibal talk about Hermann like he was some lesser being? “ _And_ you’re blackmailing my friend, so I’d appreciate it if you stopped doing that and leave him the hell alone!” He stuffed his hand into his pocket and held it around his cell phone, ready to dial 911 if shit went down.

Wow, it got _massively_ quiet all of a sudden. Newton became aware that people were staring, but he didn’t care. Maybe they would leave if they found out what Hannibal did.

Hannibal stared him down. He crossed his arms and took a step forward. Against his better judgement, Newton shifted away that same distance, nearly into the wall covered in attire. Hannibal grinned, making Newton feel sick to his stomach. “Whatcha gonna do about it?”

Newt shrugged and pulled the phone out of his pocket (noticing with a grimace that he’d missed four more calls from Hermann) and hovered over the emergency dial button. “Well I’m sure the police would love the chance to poke around this place. I counted like twelve illegal things before I even got to this side of the room.”

Hannibal laughed. Many of his guests laughed. So much for the plan to humiliate him and expose him to his crowd. Hannibal turned back to Newt. “That’s adorable.” He lifted his hand and pulled it into a fist.

Newton’s phone sparked, the screen went black, and smoke streamed out of the seams and the cracks already in the glass. Newton stared at it and wondered if this was the same feeling you got in the pit of your stomach when you realised the plane you were on was crashing, and there was nothing you could do about it.

Hannibal leaned down, too close, and lowered his hand, which had started to develop strange, blue veins along its surface. “Only way that coat is leaving here with you is if you shell out that 400k. Or, if you’re brave, you could try to steal it from me. But word of caution, short round.” Hannibal leaned closer, pulling his sunglasses off and revealing one normal eye, and one dark, false one, glowing with a strange, blue luminescence. “Nobody steals from Hannibal Chau and lives to tell that tale.” He shook his head. “Not good for business.”

Newton stared back at Hannibal for a few uncomfortable, terrified seconds.

Then he hauled off and punched him in the face.

Before he really had much time to react, the lights in the room blew with several bursts of sparks. Hannibal shockingly went down, and Newt felt his body go into fight or flight mode officially. He picked flight with no hesitation and snatched the coat off of the wall, booking it for the door. He had been expecting to be stopped, but in the blur of his rush, people seemed to be falling out of his way. Not even the bouncers got close enough to stop him. He must have been going too fast.

He burst out of the front door like a bat out of hell and nearly slammed into his car when he made it back to it across the street. He shoved his useless phone back in his pocket and tried to fumble for his keys.

What the fuck was that?

What the _actual fuck_ was that!?

He found his keys and shoved them into the door of his car-

And cried out when his car was suddenly lifted by an unseen force and chucked into a wall like it was a hot wheels. He spun frantically and found Hannibal stepping slowly out of the building. “I’m gonna give you one chance to get back here with my merchandise!” He shouted, impossibly loud. The blue veins had bled from his hand up his arm, and continued up his neck. That blue eye glowed like a beacon.

“Holy shit, holy _shit!_ ” Newton ran. He ran as fast as he could down the street, panicking as the street lamps above him exploded and went out before he even got near them. What the fuck _was_ this Hannibal guy, some kind of demon? Was there even another explanation that would make sense? Because whatever this was, it was actually happening. He’d had similar nightmares, but he’d have woken up long before he was running for his damn life in a pitch black street.

His legs were starting to burn, and he knew was beginning to slow down, but he couldn’t stop. He threw a glance over his shoulder, and Hannibal was not far behind him-

He was floating! That cheating bastard! Newton pumped his legs harder, and he was thinking what he was doing in his head now was praying. That’s probably what begging for your life from some unseen, unknown being in your mind was.

A parked van flipped on its side and landed directly in his way on the sidewalk. “ _Fuck!_ ” Newton looked back, and Hannibal looked _furious_.

“I’m getting bored, kid!”

Newton bolted across the street, being narrowly missed by a car that stopped impossibly fast, and threw himself down the stairs of the fastest way he knew how to get back to the school- the subway. He stumbled the last few steps and crashed to the ground with a grunt of pain. “God- shit! Ow…” He opened his eyes and saw that he’d made it in time for a train. He beamed and launched himself away from the wall. “Hold the doors please!” He shrieked as he saw them beginning to close, throwing his hand out toward them.

The doors stopped. Newton dove on board. The doors slid shut. The train began to move.

Newton lay there on the floor and tried to catch his breath, clinging to Hermann’s coat as tightly as he could. Somehow, despite the odds- the impossible fucking odds- against him, he’d succeeded. He laughed, breathless and shaky, and sat up. Two stops from home free.

He pulled himself onto a seat, and pulled his destroyed phone out of his pocket. He sighed and popped the back case off of it. With a wince, he discovered that the battery was completely fried. He wasn’t going to be able to call anybody with this. He groaned and closed the back paneling again. As soon as he knew what was going on, he was going to find a way to make Hannibal replace his phone.

And his car.

Fuck, this was _insane_.

Before he could dwell on the night any further, the subway car lurched. Newton was nearly thrown out of the seat. He gripped the coat and held tight to the arm of the seat, as if waiting for it to happen again. But it didn’t.

Slowly, he stood, his feet testing the ground as if it would turned to dust beneath him. He made his way to the door dividing the cars and peered through the windows.

At the back of the next train down, the door was ripped off its track. Hannibal stood in the frame. Newton’s eyes widened, and he bolted to the other end of his car. How the fuck did he get on board!? That was a stupid question. How the fuck had Hannibal been able to do _anything_ he’d done tonight?

Newton slammed the button that opened the doors and slipped through, doing to the same to get to the next car. As he did so, he felt the train beginning to slow for the first stop, and he cursed. “No, don’t stop, come _on!_ ” He kept running. There weren’t many people on this train, and of those who were, nobody was readying to get off, but it was stopping anyway. The brakes began to squeal-

And then something metallic and heavy snapped. The train did not stop. Newt glanced at the windows and watched as the train continued right on past the only stop before the school. He laughed in an exhausted relief and kept running through the cars. There was no way he was that lucky.

When the train was half a mile from his stop, he realised with another lurch throwing him off his feet that he _wasn’t_ that lucky. The train was stopping fast, faster than it should have, sending anyone and everyone on board to the floor.

When the train heaved to a halt, Newt scrambled to his feet. There were confused people toppled sparsely throughout the area, and Newton hurried to the nearest person, helping her up with his free hand. “You okay?”

She nodded. “I’m fine.”

The door of the back of the car creaked and slammed to the side. Newton flinched and looked back, seeing Hannibal gripping the door frame. “Losing my patience, kid. Give me back that coat,” He warned.

Newton’s chest seized, and he turned to the girl, grabbing her arms. “Sorry about this!” He yanked her to his side and threw her back to the floor, behind a divider wall blocking the seats from the doors. Once she was out of Hannibal’s way, Newt booked it to the front of the train.

One car, two cars, and then the end approached. He found one of the side doors had been opened, and the conductor was hanging out of it to try and figure out what had gone wrong. “'Scuse me, outta my way, I’m a doctor!” He shouted as he slipped off of the train behind the man.

“Hey! Hey, what the hell are you doing!?” The man yelled after him, but didn’t give chase. “Get off the damn tracks!”

Newton kept running. The tunnel was dark, but far up ahead, he could see the light of the next stop- his stop- streaming onto the tracks. He wanted to be happy to see it, but any joy he might have felt by the illusion of safety being twenty meters away was crushed by the sound of metal scraping on metal. Newton looked behind him, and sure enough the train was moving again. And it was gaining on him. “Fuck, fuck, _fuck!_ ” He gripped Hermann’s coat tighter and forced himself to run faster. He’d never once let his height bother him, but now all he wanted was longer legs. “Shuh-shoulda done track in school…!” He heaved, cursing his past self for not even once considering that he would have to be running for his life for any reason. He was a biology and chemistry professor for fuck’s sake! And marine biology, and engineering, but he wasn’t going to step on Tendo’s toes- Not important right now! “ _Focus_ , you dumbass!”

The train screamed behind him, and it was obvious that it wasn’t moving on its own. It was coming up impossibly fast. Newton was no physicist, not like Hermann, but even with his limited knowledge, he knew that train was easily going to run him down before he made the station platform. He wasn’t going to make it. Hannibal won.

Newton’s foot caught the track, and he tripped, landing on his knees. He curled into a ball around the coat and braced for the inevitable impact.

It never came. Instead, the sound of the train speeding through grew higher in pitch, and then lower as it careened by him instead of through him. Newton lifted his head from the floor and found himself safely on the platform of the stop. “Hu-… How the _fuck_ …?”

He watched in stunned shock as the train went by. Through the window, he spotted the cold, angry scowl of Hannibal locked on him as the train sped past.

Newton used his renewed adrenaline to bounce to his feet, running to the stairs. He had to get a hold of somebody- _Anybody_. He could try the cops, but what could they do against some spawn of hell? No, he had to call somebody who knew what was going on, but he didn’t memorise anyone’s numbers, and he didn’t have his phone-

Phone.

“ _Once you buy, there’s a cell in this pocket with one number in it-_ ”

Newton kept running, but he shifted the coat over his shoulder and fumbled with the pockets. Sure enough, there was a small flip phone inside, and he opened it, powering it on and opening the contacts. There was one number in it. No label, or distinction at all. Just ten digits with no context, but if Newton pieced this together correctly, he knew who would be on the other end.

He dialed it, held the phone to his ear, and hoped to whatever deities could possibly be listening that he was right.

~

Hermann felt like a carved out shell. Mako sat across from him with his hands clasped in hers, glaring daggers at the small phone he’d been given. Hermann had done his best not to cry in front of her, but at this moment, he was only successful because he was dehydrated and out of tears to cry. He supposed he could be thankful for small victories, because he was going to have to get used to not getting his way. Ever again.

“Miss Mori, if you stare any harder at the phone, it will catch fire.” To anyone else, it wouldn’t be as serious a statement.

“I am still not sure I _shouldn’t_ burn it,” Mako said, voice like acid.

Hermann sighed. “Mako, if they cannot reach me, lord knows what they would do to my coat-”

“I _know,_ Dr. Gottlieb.” Mako sighed as well and squeezed his hands harder. “I am venting my frustrations with words.”

A smile forced itself on Hermann’s face. “Yes… Like I taught you.”

Hermann had a depressingly busy day. After his classes were finished, he tucked himself away in his office, packed his things, and wrote letters. He wrote one for Tendo, and one for Herc. He even had one tucked away for Mako, even though she was right there, and he could tell her everything he wanted to say. But his emotions were in such a tangle, he knew he wouldn’t be able to properly dictate exactly what he needed her to know.

There was also one, lengthy, addressed to Newton right on top of the stack. It was his greatest, traitorous move, and it was full of information Newton wasn’t supposed to know according to the PPDC. The power he had, why Hermann truly had to leave, and how it had nothing to do with Newton. And how Newton was one of the reasons he so wished he could stay.

Whoever moved into this office would find them, and hopefully distribute them to whom they belonged.

The office door swung open, and Hermann lifted his gaze to see who it was.

It was Raleigh. “I lost his scent. I don’t understand _how_ I lost it, Dr. Geiszler’s magic is off the charts.”

Hermann sighed and nodded. “I expect your sense of smell is as hindered by vehicle travel as any blood hound. I thank you for your efforts, and I understand you can only do so much.”

Raleigh dragged another chair over and sat by Mako, dropping a hand over theirs. “I don’t wanna be that guy who’s just blindly optimistic, but I’m sure everything’ll be fine. You’ve got a lot of people hunting that coat down for you.”

Hermann nodded slowly. “I think for the sake of my remaining willpower, I’m going to stay pessimistic.” He ducked his head and simply allowed the warmth of their hands to calm him down. It did nothing to block the tingling in his bones.

He was tied to his coat on a deep physical level no matter the distance. Until a little while ago, he felt nothing, but now he knew- _he knew_ that someone powerful was holding his coat. Whoever he was meant for, he must have finally been given to. His freedom never seemed farther away.

The small flip phone rang. The candles flared around the room, similar to when Newton had been excitable in Mako’s place, but the wax was dwindling fast in Mako’s wrathful heat. “Hermann, please do not answer.”

Hermann’s ribcage felt like it wanted to crack apart. “I must, Mako.” And with that, he pulled his hands away. He lifted the phone, gave one last, bitter sigh to try and empty his voice of any remaining emotion- who knew if he’d be allowed to show it- and answered the call. “…Yes?”

“ _Hermann!?_ ”

Hermann nearly fell out of his chair. “It can’t-… _Newton?_ ”

Mako and Raleigh leaned forward, as if trying to hear more of the conversation. But it wouldn’t take much; Newton’s baseline speaking setting was shouting. “ _I’ve got your coat, all right!? I dunno what the hell you got yourself into, but if you know who to call, you better fucking do it now!_ ”

“N-Newton where are you!? What do you-… What do you mean you have my coat- _how!?_ ” Hermann shakily stood to his newborn feet, one hand fumbling for his cane. Raleigh handed it to him as he and Mako stood as well.

“ _It’s a long fucking story! Tell me you’re still at the school!_ ” Newton sounded like he was out of breath. Was he running?

Was he running _here?_ “I am; Please tell me what on earth you’ve done now!” Hermann gestured to the door and led the way to it. Mako and Raleigh followed, concern and confusion on their faces.

“ _Just stay there, I’m on my way! But seriously call somebody who knows what the fuck to do, because I’m comin’ in hot!_ ” The Newton hung up.

Hermann’s breath had left him. He flipped the phone closed and tossed it to Mako. “Burn that thing. I never want to see it again.”

Mako beamed at him, and the phone wilted like her candles in the flames she called forth. “Thought you would never ask.”

Hermann hobbled as fast as his legs could go down the hall, toward the exit of the building. He yanked his own phone from his pocket and dialed Tendo before he could think.

Tendo answered after one ring. “ _Doc! Tell me you didn’t get a call-_ ”

“I did, but it’s Newton!”

“ _What!?_ ”

Hermann laughed- his first since his coat had been stolen- and ran through the front door Raleigh held open for him. “I don’t know how, but Newton found the coat, and he’s bringing it back here! I need you to come here now, I believe he’s being followed, and I am not equipped to battle a warlock!”

He could hear Tendo saying something to someone else, likely Herc, before returning to the call. “ _We’re ten minutes out. Hermann, stay inside the school, we’re coming to you._ ”

“Ooh, It’s much too late for that, Mr. Choi.” Hermann hung up and tucked his phone in his pocket.

They made their way to the street, and Hermann wasn’t looking more than four seconds before he saw Newton’s approach in the distance. In his grasp, tight and careful, was his coat. That was why he’d felt a supernova in his veins.

Newton had him. He was safe.

“Newton!” He called to him.

Newton barely looked up from the ground, where he was focusing likely so as not to trip, and his eyes lit up. A smile spread across his face, brighter than the any star Hermann had ever seen or studied, and he felt the magic radiate off of him with just as much force.

A flash of movement above Newton’s head caught his eye. Hermann looked up and saw, of all things, a van falling from wherever it had been flung. “Above you, Newton!”

Newton skid to a stop, and Hermann was yanked back, away from the danger, by Raleigh and Mako. The van crashed into the road, rolling a short distance down the empty street.

Mako glared and planted a hand on Raleigh’s shoulder. “Watch him.” She stood from them and marched in the direction of Hannibal.

Newton had curled up when the van landed. It had just missed him, and thankfully everyone else as well, but when he looked up, Mako was on a war path past him. “Mako! Mako, wait, he’s some sorta-”

His words seemed to turn to sand in his mouth when he finally saw Mako in all her glory. As she paced, her feet burned scorch marks onto the pavement, and flames licked their way up her arms, crowning above her head like she was a god of fire. Newton couldn’t do anything but stare.

Hannibal descended to the ground, and his noisy, golden shoes touched down. “Oh, you have an entourage! Good to know.”

Mako’s stare alone could have killed any man crossing her path. “You tried to hurt my friend.” She spat, lifting her arm and sending a stream of fire directly at Hannibal. It encased him and blocked him from view.

Hermann didn’t trust this situation at all. Mako’s rage was giving her astounding control, be they’d never practiced her fire on any sort of battle capacity. No matter how angry she was, she wasn’t ready.

His fears were validated when a blast of energy cascaded out and sent her fire out in all directions. The move shook Mako’s concentration as she spun to make sure nobody had been hit, and she was sent flying into the wall of one of the buildings. She landed on the ground and didn’t get back up.

Hannibal smirked. “Gonna take more than a little firefly to stop me.” He lifted his hand, and parked truck began skidding toward Mako’s unconscious form.

“ _No!_ ” Raleigh pounced away from Hermann and bounded across the street, throwing himself over Mako and catching the pane of the truck with his bare hands. His muscles rippled beneath his sweater, and his hands grew claws that dented and pierced the metal as he forced it back. His snarl became sharp and pronounced as his fangs grew.

Hermann scrambled weakly to his feet and tried to make his way to Newton, who was still frozen in fear. He had to get to him. He had to make sure he wasn’t alone, he _swore_ he would-

“Ah-ah. Where d’you think you’re goin’?” Hannibal, now nearly completely blue with prominent veins, lifted a hand, and Hermann felt that grip on his chest again. He was thrown back and pressed deep into the side of the overturned van in the middle of the road. Hermann cried out in shock.

That got Newton to turn. His eyes carried the fear, and all Hermann wanted to do was tell him that everything would be all right.

Behind Hannibal, Tendo’s car turned a corner and began speeding toward them. Hannibal heard the engine and turned to it with a scoff. He looked back at Hermann. “You called the cavalry. And here I thought we had an understanding.” He lifted his hand and lifted it, and Tendo’s car lifted into the air much to the shock and horror of the two occupants inside. “Now why’d you have to go and involve the PPDC, huh?” He grinned at the car. “Guess I’ll just have to lighten their numbers.”

“ _ENOUGH!_ ”

Newton was standing. He had Hermann’s coat bundled closely to his chest, protected in his rigid arms, and his feet were planted in a fighting stance. Hermann could feel his flurry of power, and his voice was impossibly loud. Newton barely trembled. “Somebody needs to start explaining what the _hell_ is going on!”

Hannibal, leaving Tendo and Herc in the air, turned to Newton and smirked at him. “Wow. Now that’s just so damn sad. Your friends didn’t tell you anything about any of this, did they?” He gestured toward Newton’s arm and took a few steps forward. “Do you even know what you’re holding? Has he even told you what he _is?_ ”

Hermann felt a wave of hatred so vast it would have sunk the entire state. “Selkie!” He shouted from his frozen position. Newton stared at him in disbelief. “N-Newton, I am a selkie. I’m not about to let you hear that from him, I swear I planned to tell you-”

“Oh you did?” Hannibal continued, pressing him further into the van, causing the metal behind him to creak. “Did you also plan on ever telling him what _he_ is?”

Newton’s look grew more sad and more desperate. Hermann’s lungs were having trouble taking in air, but he could not let Hannibal manipulate this situation any more than he already had. “You’re a witch, Newton.” He forced out, watching all emotion drain from Newton’s face and seem to leave him in a state of shock. “You’re a witch, and you’re so _powerful_ , Newton, lis- _listen_ to me. You’re stronger than him, you can defeat him! Why else do you think he hasn’t touched you ye-”

A grip closed around his throat and his words were strangled. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe.

Newton’s gaze found the ground, and the trembling in his body stopped. Hannibal took another step forward. “He’s right, you know.” Newton didn’t look up, but Hannibal continued regardless. “You’re powerful. It was why I approached you about joining my crew when you first came here. I wasn’t about to let someone like you just slip through my fingers. And now that I know you’re untrained, I certainly can’t let that happen now.”

Hannibal held his arms up. “Look around, kid. This? What I got? _Nothing_ compared to you. And that weedy little rat back there?” He gestured to Hermann. “Those spooks in that car?” He thumbed behind him. “They wanna ground you. They wanna hold you back.” He took a few more steps forward. “What I want is to unlock all of that potential. Me, I’ve gotta ask the damn gods for what I got, but you? You could _own_ them. You could control gods and beings you can’t even _fathom_ yet, but instead, they’ve got you here. Teaching brats about science- meager,  _pathetic_ stuff compared to what you could do. Not even telling you what you’re capable of.” Hannibal turned back to the car holding their friend and smirked at it. “Imagine what you could do with the right teacher?” He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened. Hannibal’s smirk dropped, and he turned back to Newton.

His skin was _crackling_ with the latent energy within him. As _something_ built inside of Newton, every other car on the street began to rise from the ground. Hermann gasped as the pressure left him completely, and he dropped to his knees. The van he had been pressed into rose and joined the other vehicles. The truck Raleigh was fighting against gave in to him and then ascended with the rest. Raleigh took a deep breath and dropped to his knees, carefully lifting Mako from the ground to check on her. Hannibal took a step back.

Newton’s gaze hadn’t left the ground. “Selkie,” He said, once, and gripped the coat.

Hermann nodded, even thought Newton couldn’t see it. “Yeh-… Yes…”

Newton turned his gaze to coat, and his hands finally trembled again as he brushed the fabric. “…Hundred percent genuine seal… I get it now.” He gave the barest, manic laugh. “400k, huh?”

Hannibal let his grin return. “Honestly, for you? Free. He’ll do whatever you want. It’s the way they work.”

Newton laughed again, a little louder now, but still delirious from his throat. “Wow… 400k. So what you’re saying,” He pointed at Hannibal, who suddenly seized up. He was lifted an inch off of the ground, and Newton was shaking as his forced smile left his face. “Wha-… What you’re _saying_ … is that you stole my friend’s coat so you could sell him to the highest fucking _bidder!?_ ” Newton made no more gestures, but Hannibal still cried out in pain and was lifted even higher.

Newton let loose. “You put a goddamn cigarette out on this, _knowing_ Hermann would feel it, and you called it _compliance negotiation!_ You threw one of my favourite students into a wall and tried to crush her with a truck! You march up here like you’re hot shit and insult my life’s work of teaching, for which I went to school and collected _six fucking doctorates,_ thank you very much! You try to enslave my best friend and kill everyone else I’ve cared about since I got here, and you-” He laughed as if the idea was absurd, “You want me to _work with you?_ ” The humour left his face.

“Fuck you. _Fuck_ you, and get fucking _lost!_ ”

Before Hermann could blink, Hannibal was chucked away by some unseen, Newton-driven force, into the bay in the far distance.

The cars remained in the air. Buildings and walls around them creaked and groaned under the immense pressure of Newton’s decaying core and threatened to splinter in the black hole of his power. They were not safe. Not yet. Hermann struggled to his feet and stepped toward Newton.

“Newton…?” He didn’t hesitate at all.

Newton turned to him, gripped the coat so hard that Hermann could feel his fingers digging in. He was shaking, looked ready to break down, and Hermann just wanted to pull him into his arms and never let go. It felt like the air was ready to rip itself to shreds. Newton took a tentative step toward Hermann as he approached and held his coat out to him. “Guh-…. Got it for you.”

Hermann gave him the softest smile he could muster. “You did.” He took it greatfully and put it on- he had to keep his hands free. He even let his cane drop to the ground so he could lift his hands to Newton.

Newton flinched away. “No! No I’m gonna-… I’m gonna hurt you, I can’t… I can’t, _I can’t-_ ”

Hermann pressed his lips together and took one final step. “You can, Newton. I trust you. And after tonight, I trust you with my _life_ , which is not a thing I say lightly.” He moved his hands to Newton’s arms again and curled them around the leather he found there, shuddering as the waves of magic rolled off of him and bit into Hermann like constant static.

Newton’s eyes finally lifted and looked into Hermann’s. He searched for something, probably fear or a hint of a lie, but instead his attention was drawn away to the vehicles still floating far above the street. “Oh god, am I-am I doing that? Is that me?” He panicked and turned to Tendo’s car, finding it far above their heads and full of scared friends. Tendo’s hands were pressed against the glass, as if he was trying to will the car to the ground but wasn’t strong enough. Herc simple held Tendo’s shoulder and stared down at the two of them like he’d accepted his fate.

Hermann inhaled as slowly as he could. No need to seem frantic when Newton was plenty enough for both of them. “Yes, Newton this is all you, but you can control it. Hannibal Chau is a warlock, who has to borrow his powers from beings stronger than him, and you _won_. Your magic is natural, you were born with it, and you cast that man away like yesterday’s news. You can control this. All I need you to do is get our friends down, and then you can rest. Okay? You can rest, and I won’t leave you, and we can talk about everything in the morning. I can help you. All you have to do is let me.”

Newton swallowed hard. He looked up at Tendo’s car and inhaled too sharply, ducking his head. “I don’t… I don’t know if I can, what if I hurt them, what if I-.”

Hermann leaned forward and hugged Newton into his shoulder. Newton’s hands came up and buried in the back of Hermann’s newly donned coat before he could think. Hermann smiled. “You won’t. I believe in you, Newton.”

Newton went quiet. He lifted his head and tucked his chin onto Hermann’s shoulder. He stared up at Tendo’s car and begged for it to lower, to bring their friends to safety, he didn’t want to lose anybody, and he really didn’t want it to be his fault.

The car was still. Then, slowly, like a delayed thought, the car began to sink. The nose dipped low first, and the descent continued until the first tire touched down. The car shifted until the second followed, and the last two finished with a wobble. Inside, Tendo gripped his already mussed hair and breathed deeply. Herc might have been smiling.

Hermann definitely was. “There now. See? You’ve done such a good job, Newton. I am so proud of you.” He pulled away enough to see Newton’s face.

Newton barely managed a nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I-… I think I need to sleep now.”

Before Hermann could comment, Newton collapsed against him. Hermann had enough time to catch him before he toppled to the ground. A second later, there was a cataclysmic crash as the other, unmanned cars that were in the sky lost the force holding them up and fell. Hermann flinched and curled further around Newton until there was only silence again.

To his left, Raleigh had roused Mako, and they limped toward him. Hermann gave a deep, relieved sigh and smiled at them. “Are you all right…?”

Mako bowed her head. “I will be. Are you okay?”

Hermann nodded. “I’m fine. No worse for the wear.”

Behind him, Tendo and Herc had climbed out of the car. Tendo was breathless, which was reasonable after one’s life had flashed before their eyes, and Herc looked astounded. Hermann turned to them both, but he regarded Herc first. “I think, Mr. Hansen, I would like to amend my stance. I will join the PPDC.” He looked down at the unconscious, exhausted man in his arms and lowered himself to rest his forehead against Newton’s messy hair. Newton had been so scared today, of everything that had happened, and of _himself-_ He would never be that afraid again if Hermann had any say. Hermann lifted his head again and glared at Herc.

“I will join If only so I may speak with your superiors.  Some rules need to change, and they need to change _now._ ”

Herc stared at him and gave a slow smile.  "I'll make a call."

~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made myself a promise that I wouldn't stop writing this chapter until Newt passed out. Just so happened to be like, TEN THOUSAND WORDS LATER.


	4. Supernova

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why yes, this chapter does share the title of the story. Wonder why that is?

Newt woke feeling warm. His head was pounding, but where it was resting was doing its damnedest to alleviate the pain. Newt managed a soft groan and rolled onto his side, tucking his face away into a warm, familiar fabric and trying to will himself back to sleep. Why was this fabric so familiar? In his early waking stupor, he test-nuzzled the fabric again-

And was met with a sharp, bright memory of burying his face in it as a train barreled towards him.

He shot up so fast his head spun. He reached out to a blurry surface of potentially a table and patted it down until he found his glasses, carefully folded and easily within arm’s reach. As he sat there in the dark, trying to will his vision to adjust faster, he found himself in a familiar home. It was incredibly clean, but plentiful in furniture, creating a very condensed but homey living space. Had he been here before? Sleep was reluctant to let go of his mind and let him figure it out. If he took the visible possessions and lack of obvious photos into consideration, it seemed that, despite that startling amount of seating, this was the home of one person.

Just as he was starting to panic about how he’d arrived in this place, he spotted a familiar cane leaning against the wall by the front door. More memories came back, of drunkenly stumbling through this place, bumping into the many chairs, stubbing his toe, eventually finding a scantily stocked fridge and pantry with just enough ingredients for a hangover cure.

This was Hermann’s place.

Newt stared down at himself and found that he wasn’t wearing his leather jacket anymore. His shoes had been removed, tucked away with Hermann’s by the door. As his vision finally focused, he found his jacket hanging over the back of a chair by the door.

Jacket. _Coat._

Newton turned to where he had been resting, and sure enough, Hermann’s coat was there. As was Hermann, who was still wearing it, tucked within it with a myriad of pillows arranged just so beneath his bad leg and behind his head. Newt had been laying on Hermann’s lap. He stared in shocked, embarrassed (excited?) silence. What the fuck was going on here?

This was a dream. That’s what this was. He and Hermann were getting along really well, but they were not on ‘let Newt sleep on Hermann’s lap’ level yet. Were they? Was this the dream?

Or was last night the dream?

The breath in Newt’s lungs escaped too quickly, combining with a twisting in his gut, and the panic began to flare back. That couldn’t have possibly happened. That was some fever dream because he’d forgotten to take his medicine, that had to be it. It had to be. Warlocks weren’t real, witches weren’t real, he had some sort of breakdown, and Hermann panicked. That’s all.

Or that would be all if Newton didn’t watch his panic lift a plant straight off of the windowsill. Newt made a small noise of distress and scooted back- away from Hermann, as if the sleeping man would get caught up in whatever was wrong with his fucking head- and bumped into a lamp on a side table. Newton spun to catch it, but he was frozen when, instead of clattering to the floor, it lifted away as well.

Newt could feel himself hyperventilating. “No. No this isn’t real, it’s not real, it’s-…” The lights in the room began to flicker as the panic took hold with no plans of letting go. “God no, please, no fuck- _fuck_ , please stop, please stop…”

“Newton?” Hermann’s voice rang through his fog like a bell.

Newton jerked to face Hermann, and bless him, he didn’t look afraid of what was happening at all. Newt dared a short breath. “H-Herms…? I dunno what’s happening, I can’t- I can’t make it stop-”

“Shhh…” Hermann rubbed his eyes to rid them of sleep and shifted his leg off of the pillows, moving closer. “It’s all right, Newton.”

“It’s _really_ not-”

“It _is_.” Hermann took his shoulders in his hands with no hesitation at all and looked him directly in his eyes. “You’re panicking right now, and your magic is responding. That’s all.”

Newton could have sobbed. “That’s _all?_ Yuh-You say that like this is an every day thing-”

“That’s because it is, darling.” Hermann’s voice was impossibly soft, and if Newton could dive into a sea made of that gentle, English tone, he would.

‘Darling’ hung in Newton’s head like a promise. “How-How is this _normal?_ People just up and suddenly have powers they never knew about their whole life- Hermann I don’t know what to do-”

“You can start by calming down and listening to me,” Hermann said, keeping his voice low. “This _does_ happen every day. This side of the world has just been living separate from the side you’re used to living on. It is an injustice that you were never taught to handle this when you were young, but I promise you- I _promise you_ , you can control this.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that when I don’t even know what _this_ is!?” Newton said it in one, broken, terrified breath.

Hermann narrowed his arms at him, looking like the picture of a stern teacher. Newt, for a second of clarity, felt a little bad for Hermann’s misbehaving students. “Newton, you listen to me right now. Last night, you showed me that you are capable of impossible levels of focus. Now I know that it was heat of the moment, but you disabled a threat and brought your friends to safety.”

“I threw a man in the bay,” Newt reminded.

“He’ll live,” Hermann promised. “Unfortunately,” He added with an eye roll and a sigh.

“...He will?”

Hermann nodded. “Hannibal Chau is a warlock, and he’s regrettably tougher than he seems. But you are a witch.” He hands ran up and down Newt’s arms to try and calm him down. “The magic is in your blood. It has to listen to you, and what you’re telling it now is that you need it to protect you.”

“I’m telling it _anything-_ protect me from what!?” Newt watched as a painting lifted away from the wall.

Hermann nodded. “Precisely.” He looked around. “There isn’t anything here you need be afraid of. There’s only you, and only me.” Hermann laughed. “Although sometimes the neighbour’s chihuahua thinks he can chew through the wall, but were he to make it through, I think I could handle him myself.”

Newton tried his hardest to force the objects back where they belonged, but they remained in the air. “I can’t. I can’t, what if I-”

“There. Stop that.” Hermann flicked the lobe of his ear, causing Newton to flinch and panic further.

“Dude, what the-”

“You are afraid of yourself. You’ve no need to be. That’s your block.” Hermann leaned down to try and catch Newton’s gaze again. “You’ve already decided that you are a threat, and therefore your fear is getting the better of you.”

Newt swallowed the nerves in his throat. “ _Aren’t_ I though…? All those cars, Tendo and Herc-”

“Mr. Choi and Mr. Hansen are _fine._ ” Hermann lifted his hands to Newton’s face and lifted him to face him properly. “If you were a threat, I would not be here. I would not allow you into my home. _I_ know you can control it.”

Newton had no real choice but to stare into those dark eyes, but he wasn’t exactly complaining. They had always been deep pools of endless knowledge and mystery, but now they held a clear flicker of affection. Hermann really did believe what he was saying, even if Newton didn’t. He huffed a quick sigh and swallowed again, lifting his hands to cover Hermann’s as he tried to focus. Instead of trying to force the objects back down, he simply tried to convince himself that everything was going to be okay. After all, if Hermann hadn’t been scared away by last night’s affair, then he couldn’t possibly be a danger, right? He focused on Hermann’s hands, which were chilled against the warmth of Newt’s over-thinking. Slowly, everything that had begun floating started to drifted downward.

The objects touched down, some things on the floor, and others on tables and counters. Newt let the tension leave him in a sigh. He let go of… _something_ in his head, and his shoulders drooped. His looked back into Hermann’s eyes and smiled. Hermann beamed in return.

Then something glass shattered in the back of the room.

Newton jumped, but he managed to keep himself under control and peered over the back of the couch toward the sound. On the ground, in dozens of pieces, was a Tiffany lamp. “Fuck, fuck, I’m sorry, I tried to- I tried-”

Hermann scoffed. “Oh thank goodness. I hated that wretched thing.” He stood up from the couch.

Newton narrowed his eyes at Hermann as he walked away. “What?”

Hermann braced himself on the chairs (this explained the cane being left by the door _and_ the many pieces of furniture he had in his otherwise uncluttered home) as he walked to a hall closet and pulled out a broom. “That lamp was a… _gift_ ,” He spat the word like it was a surprise sip of cold, under steeped tea, “From my landlord. I’ve never had an excuse to get rid of the thing until now.”

Newton stumbled to his feet and hurdled the maze of couches. “Lemme get that, man, it was my fault.”

“I’m quite capable, thank you.” Hermann turned to him and gave him another heart melting smile. “I wouldn’t mind if you put the kettle on. I’m sure you have some questions, and I’m certainly not about to go back to sleep immediately. Are you?”

Newton shook his head. “Nah, I’m… I’m kinda wired, and I haven’t, uh. Taken my meds so. I’ve got questions now, but I might have more later. And like, short answers, so I can focus, and I’m sorry if I interrupt. Is that okay?”

Hermann shook his head with a smile. “Of course it’s okay.” He began sweeping up the mess. “Just tell me how to handle you, and I’ll do my best. Do reminders help?”

Newton nodded. “Yeah, definitely.”

Hermann smiled again. “Kettle.”

“Kettle,” Newton blinked. And winced. “ _Kettle,_ right sorry.”

Newt hurried into the kitchen. As Hermann finished sweeping, Newton managed to figure out how the electric kettle worked (because of course Hermann had an electric kettle), and water was boiling within it in time for Hermann to come into the kitchen as well and pull down some mugs. “I do not recommend coffee at this time, because I would like you to rest more eventually. But you do seem like you need something warm.”

Newt had been shooed to a bar style chair on the other side of the counter as Hermann worked. “I mean, I know you think this is some kind of cardinal sin or something, but I really- I’m not a big tea guy.”

“I have instant cider.”

“And I’m back, all right, hot cider sounds amazing.”

Hermann smiled again, the kind that pinched the corners of his eyes, and Newt felt like it filled his chest with storms. He smiled back as Hermann and tried to ignore the restless bounce in his leg.

Hermann wordless set Newton’s mug before him to a short ‘thanks’ and came around to sit beside him with his own, steeping tea. He finally shuffled the coat off and hung it on the back of his chair so it wasn’t too far.

Right. Questions. Where the hell did he start? “So uh… Selkie?”

“Yes.” Hermann said, checking the time as he waited for his tea to be ready.

“Like. Straight up, seal. You came from the sea.”

Hermann nodded. “I did.”

Newton had no idea what he even wanted- or needed- to know. “I just… I guess I just dunno why you’re here. Like I know I only have the mythology to go by- though I guess it’s not really mythology, seeing as you’re here, and you’re real, and clearly there’s some truth in the stories. God, what other mythological beings are real if selkies, and warlocks, and _witches-_ ”

“Newton,” Hermann warned with a gently hand on Newton’s arm. “That can be a question for later. You were going to ask about my kind?”

Newton stared for a moment at Hermann’s hand. “Right. Right, right, um. So like, the stories usually talk about how selkies always go back to the sea unless they have no choice but to stay. But up until the whole thing last night, you’ve just been… here. Like I know you’ve been at the school for, what, three years? Have you never wanted to go back?”

Hermann shook his head. “I do not. I have no reason to, it isn’t safe with my leg the way it is.”

“Family? I’ve heard you talk a lot about siblings.”

“Mm, yes. I have three. Sometimes they visit.”

Newt sipped his cider to force himself to think. “I thought it was… a calling. Like it’ll pull you back someday. Not that I want you to go, mind you, I mean I did just face some evil, magical, black market dealer and turned my entire life as I knew it upside so you would stay, I’m not about to chase you away.”

Hermann laughed again. “I know, Newton, you do not have to qualify your questions.” He checked the time and sighed, pulling the teabag out of his mug and wringing as much of the tea out of it as he could with a spoon. “There are many mystical things attributed to beings that made lore. It’s not incorrect that some selkies wish to return to the sea and do so, but that is because they miss it. I do not.”

“None of it?”

Hermann shrugged and sipped his tea. “I suppose the sense of freedom is nice on occasion, but I can achieve that feeling in a pool.” He thought about it. “I suppose it’s much like a hometown. What do you consider your home?”

“Oh easy. Boston. I’m mean I’m from Berlin originally, but like. MIT. And all.”

“Would you go back and stay there forever?” Hermann asked honestly over the steam from his mug.

Newt shook his head. “Probably not. I mean Boston was pretty awesome, Berlin was awesome too, but. I like it here.”

Hermann smiled at him. “I like it here as well. Now you know why I stay.” He sipped his tea again and set it down. “I suppose the ‘call of the sea’ is more like a nostalgia than anything magical.”

Newton gave him a nod and stared into his already half empty mug. He was sure if he stared into it long enough, he’d have more Selkie-related questions and could fill the rest of the night with them. But he really needed some other, harder answers. “…How long have you known what I was…?”

Hermann’s smile finally fell. Newt flinched. Hermann looked up at him with a measure of guilt in those dark eyes. “…Since you arrived a over year ago.”

That was definitely not what he was expecting to hear. Newt bit his lip and looked at his lap. “So, the whole time? And you never said anything?”

Hermann inhaled slowly and lifted his tea again. “I had initially wanted nothing to do with you. You did nothing to keep your power hidden, so I went out of my way to keep myself from you,”

“I-…” Newton swallowed. “I don’t know how to do that-”

“Yes, and I know that now. I didn’t then.”

Newton dared his next question. “How-… How long have you known that I _didn’t_ know…?”

Hermann pursed his lips and stared into his tea, swirling the mug in thought. “Since my apology. Since the beginning of our-… of our friendship, I suppose.”

“Why didn’t you tell me then?”

Hermann lifted his head, and if looks could kill (or perhaps if Hermann had been the witch instead), someone would have been dead. “If I had my way, I would have.” He set his mug down hard. “I was sworn to a secrecy based on the word of an organisation called the PPDC.”

“PPDC?”

“Paranormal Protection, Detection, and Containment. They are apparently everywhere, and it’s their job to ensure that humans are kept safe from the tendency for the paranormal community to go awry.” He took a rather large swallow of his tea like it was a shot. “At least that’s how I’m describing it. I’m sure proponents of the company would sugar coat it and add that they’re here to protect beings as well, but from where I’m sitting, they’re not making much of an effort to actually help us where help is needed.”

Newton took in as much as he could. This was a _lot_ of information, and somehow every bit of it had something to do with him. He had to focus. “What does any of that have to do with me?”

Hermann leaned closer to him. “I was informed by Mr. Choi that you were a… a case that they were working on. Witches growing up with no idea that they are as such are not uncommon. As I have said.” He took a slow breath. “What _is_ uncommon is how powerful you are. They were not sure how to handle you when your power could peak at any moment of high stress. They felt that it was safer to leave you in the dark.”

“So,” Newt’s voice was half mast, “I _am_ dangerous…?”

Hermann shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Hermann, I know I keep going back to it, but all those cars were in the air because of me, and I think I heard the road cracking-”

“ _And_ I’m sure if there was nobody there to explain to you what was happening, you might have gone off like they were afraid you would, and you may have taken out the city.” Hermann’s tone was pointed. “There are many hypotheticals in that statement that sound like they may have made the right decision.”

Newton nodded. “I sure as hell think so.”

Hermann scoffed with some amusement. “Newton. You’re not considering all the factors here. You did _not_ go off. You did _not_ take out the town. I spoke to you. I was honest with you. Eventually you calmed down, and everything was fine. Everything was fine because I did exactly what they told me _not_ to do.”

Oh. _Oh._ Newton hadn’t thought of that at all. “…Oh,” He said, out loud.

“Yes, ‘oh’.” Hermann sipped his tea again. “Watch your cider.”

Newton turned to his cup, thinking he was about to see it close to spilling, but instead he found that the liquid had risen out of the cup in a stream, floating there as if he was in space. He yelped and lifted the cup to collect the cider out of the air before he lost his hold. “Uh sorry.”

“No need for apologies.” Hermann sipped his tea and quickly emptied the mug. “Honestly the more it happens, the more we can pinpoint how you can control it. You just have to remember how you feel when it happens.”

“Like when I’m freaking out?”

“That’s a very logical time for your power to come forth, yes.” Hermann leaned over the counter and set the mug in the sink. “But we’ll work on your ability to use it whenever you please.”

“‘We’?” Newton’s question was tentative. “I thought I was a PPDC case.”

“Yes, well. As of last night, I’m unofficially an agent. I plan on using my first action as such to yell at my superiors about their horrible tactics and demand that they allow _me_ to work with you as well.” Hermann paused, and his shoulders rose in the barest hint of insecurity. “If… that would be acceptable to you.”

Newton gave a laugh and allowed Hermann’s break in his calm visage to let him relax. “Are you kidding? You just handed me an excuse to hang around you more and annoy you all day. I accept.”

Hermann relaxed again, a real relaxed instead of the calm he wore to help keep Newton at ease. “Good. I will be be sure to include that somewhere within my declamation.” With a grateful sigh, he stood up and pushed out his back. “I know you may have more questions, but I feel that we should both try to rest up. Do you believe you’ll be okay in here by yourself?”

Newton tapped his fingers on the side of his mug. “I… I think so. You’re just gonna be in your room, right? I know where you are if I need you.” He did want to keep asking questions, but he knew from the weight of his eyelids that Hermann was right. This was a conversation for when he was awake and medicated.

Hermann nodded and rested a comforting hand on Newton’s shoulder. “You may sleep on whatever furniture you deem fit for you. The love seat unfolds into a bed if you’re so inclined.”

Newton watched Hermann collect his coat from the back of the chair and brace himself on his many surfaces as he made his way toward his bedroom. Newt stood up and called after him. “Hey, Herms? Can I ask you one more question?”

Hermann leaned on the wall by the hallway. “Of course.”

Newton rubbed the back of his neck and smiled at him. “Did you call me ‘darling’ earlier?”

Hermann’s eyes widened. The grip on his coat tightened and, even in the dim lighting of the room, Newton saw his face go red to his ears. He huffed and spun away, marching down the hall. “Go to _sleep_ , Dr. Geiszler!” He ordered.

Newton chuckled after him. The heat behind those words was muted and forced. Hermann wasn’t angry- just embarrassed. Newton wondered how he would feel of Newt asked him to call him that again. “Good night, Hermann.” He said after Hermann’s retreating for had long since been out of the room.

He polished off the rest of his cider (now a lukewarm instead of hot) and set the mug in the sink. He made his way back to the couch and flopped back onto it, not even wanting to bother trying to pull apart the nearby love seat and find the spare bed. It was too much effort. And as much as he loathed to admit that Hermann was right, Newton was incredibly exhausted despite being unconscious for however long it had been.

He stared at the ceiling and was able to concoct twenty things in his mind that the stain on the ceiling resembled before sleep finally claimed him.

~

They took a cab to Newton’s place the next morning, and Newton spent the thirty minutes they were there apologising for the mess. Newton’s home was as messy as his mind and desk were, but Hermann swore he didn’t mind it at all. Newton never believed him once and kept apologising while he picked up (and took his dose of) his necessary medication, drank cold coffee straight from the previous day’s pot with a grimace, and got changed into something that was not corduroy and the old t-shirt he had been wearing.

But it was Saturday, so another old t-shirt took its place over sweat pants with extra pockets (You never knew when you were going to need pockets) and socks with space all over them. Hermann complimented the socks. Newton forgot about apologising for the mess.

They took the bus back to campus, even though Newton always took his Saturdays off and left planning for Sunday, but extenuating circumstances took priority now.

The bus veered down a route neither man was used to it going, but they weren’t going to be the ones to bring it up. They knew why. So they said nothing as one traveler asked about the reroute, and the bus driver answered that the usual one had been hit by a localised earthquake that crumbled the road and made it unsafe. Hermann had reached over and held Newton’s hand. Newton rested his head against the cold window pane and focused on the bones in Hermann’s fingers curling around his own.

The talk of the ‘strangest earthquake ever’ continued on their trek from the drop off into the school. While nobody had class, students were still allowed within the school to do their work or speak with professors who had extended office hours. _Everyone_ was talking about how the Richter reading had been off the charts and should have been felt by the whole state, or that some of the surrounding buildings suffered structural damage, but only on walls facing the street. Someone said it must have not been an earthquake and had to have been a freak tornado to have done so much damage to the cars. There was even talk about how God had taken offense to the road, nick-named Heathen Street by the man who founded the school in the early 1900s to spite a mega church that used to be on the opposite side of the street, and smote it himself. Students had gone out of their way to find that historical little nugget to try and explain away the bizarre destruction of the street and all of the cars on it.

Newt kept his gaze on the floor. Hermann spoke to fill the void. “The rumours will settle eventually.”

Newt could barely breathe. “Structural damage, Hermann? _Dozens_ of cars!?”

They had been walking to Tendo’s shop class, where they were meeting up with Tendo and Herc to await the arrival of whoever was in charge of this wing of the PPDC. But as Newton spoke, Hermann sighed and crashed into his shoulder, forcefully angling him into the teacher’s lounge and shutting the door behind them. Newt opened his mouth to complain, but he had to shut it as he was yanked into another hug to avoid getting a mouthful of Hermann’s coat. Hermann said nothing for a while and just let them exist in the same space.

Newton’s eyes were wide and his body tense, but Hermann kept his hold soft. It was a deep contrast to the panic that must have been humming in Newt’s veins, and slowly but surely it wound him down. He sighed and tucked his forehead into Hermann’s collarbone with a frustrated groan. His arms rose around Hermann’s waist, but tucked inside of the coat instead of over it. The warmth of Hermann’s coat was a comfort to him now, and at the moment, he really needed it. Hermann was happy to let him.

“None of that was your fault you know,” Hermann mumbled into his hair.

Newton grew tense again. “How is not my-”

“You were not told, and you were scared. I’m only going to say it once more.” Hermann leaned back, almost reluctant to lose the heat of Newton’s own hold, but they had work to do. He held Newton’s head up and brushed the messy hair by Newton’s ears with his thumbs. “The fault lies with the PPDC. Not you.”

Newton took a few shaky breaths. Then he nodded. “…Right. Right, we’re here so you can yell at them. _Right…_ ”

Hermann nodded. He glanced to his left, toward the counter with the coffee maker, and winced. “Easy now.” He reached up toward the cabinets and plucked the coffee pot out of the air where Newton’s panic had sent it.

Newt snorted and covered his eyes with his hand in embarrassment. “Oh god dammit.”

Hermann patted his arm after putting the pot back down where it belonged. “Come on then.” He led them back out into the hallway.

Tendo’s class was near the end of a quiet hallway, away from most of the labs, so there wasn’t much in the way of student activity around. Hermann checked his watch. “We’re quite early, but I feel that may work to our favour. Perhaps there will be more time for you to ask questions from people you already know.”

“It’ll definitely be a hell of a lot less terrifying talking to Tendo, I’ll tell you that.”

Hermann nodded and turned the knob to open the door.

“ _One minute!_ ”

The door was forcefully shoved closed, not by any man but by a force. Hermann toppled backwards into Newton, who caught him relatively easily. Hermann gave an insulted huff as Newton leaned him to stand on his own. “Honestly!” He straightened out his coat.

Newton was grinning. As out of place as it was, it was nice to see him feeling something that wasn’t panic. “I think we’re uh. A little _too_ early.”

Hermann narrowed his eyes. “Nonsense. There’s no such thing as ‘too early’.”

Newt arched a brow at him. “…Herms, I think they were _busy._ ”

Hermann continued to look confused. “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

Newt closed his eyes tightly and sucked in a wince. “God _damn_ , you’re adorable.”

Before Hermann could sputter in indignation, the door was opened again. He regarded the door and then squinted at Newt. As they walked inside, they found Herc and Tendo comically far apart from each other. Herc looked a little put out, and Tendo was leaning on his hands, trying his best to look as innocent as possible.

Hermann missed it completely. “I hope you don’t mind the early arrival. We figured it would be best if we starting things as soon as possible.”

Herc rubbed his chin, a forced, amicable smile on his face. “As punctual as ever, Dr. Gottlieb.”

“And we’re really, _really_ sorry,” Newt added, a snicker lacing his voice.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tendo said shortly. “Seriously. Newt? Do not.”

Newt cackled and dragged a chair over to sit down by one of the tables. Hermann sat beside him with a a grateful sigh. “Yes, I suppose we’re sorry for interrupting whatever meeting the two of you were in.”

Tendo closed his eyes and ducked his head. Herc snorted, and Newt hissed with stifled laughter. Hermann rolled his eyes. “Okay, yes, let’s all laugh at the oblivious fool, thank you. I’m sure it’s very amusing to you.”

“Herms,” Newt tapped his arm. When Hermann regarded, Newt tapped the side of his neck and thumbed toward Tendo. Hermann wrinkled his brow in confusion and turned to their friend. On his neck, peeking just out of the collar, was unmistakably a hickey.

Hermann’s eyes widened and his shoulders rose to his red ears. “I-!” He looked between Herc (who was laughing) and Tendo (who wanted to become one with the table) in embarrassment. “Good lord, I am so sorry, I-”

“ _So Newt,_ how’d your first night as a witch go?” Tendo asked loudly, yanking his collar up a little higher and changing the subject as quickly as possible.

Newt amusement melted away, and he glanced down at the table. “Uh. All right? I almost destroyed anything in Hermann’s place that wasn’t nailed down. But then I didn’t. Only casualty was a lamp.”

“Was it the Tiffany?” Tendo asked.

“Thankfully,” Hermann said, still a little red in the face.

Tendo smirked. “Good, that thing was ugly as hell.”

Newt smiled. And then it fell away. “How long did you know?”

Silence fell on the room. Tendo, leaned forward on his arms with a sigh. “…I’ve known since you got here.”

Newton hummed in thought, closing his eyes. “Fantastic. So, a year and some change. Cool.” He opened his eyes and looked up at Herc. “You too, I gather?” His stress was building. Hermann could tell. He lifted a hand and laid it on Newton’s shoulder.

Herc inhaled threw his nose and sighed. “Known longer,” He admitted. “Never been my case until you came here.”

Newton stared. He leaned forward. “Your case.”

“Mine,” Herc said. “But you’ve been on the PPDC radar since you were a boy.”

“Why? How? And why didn’t anyone say- _Why_ was this something I didn’t need to know?”

Herc held his hands up. “You did, but-” Herc closed his eyes and took a breath before continuing. “Geiszler, this organisation is first and foremost protection for beings with abilities like yours. In being that, we have to protect the community by keeping things under wraps until we could be sure that you weren’t going to expose the community.”

“Oh, _bullshit_.” The sharp word came from, of all people, Hermann. “In this room, right now, you don’t get to spew political statements to your defence when you should just come out and say that your organisation made a mistake!”

“Last I heard, Dr. Gottlieb, you wanted to join that organisation.”

“I do!” Hermann stood. “So that I may fix it from the inside, because apparently speaking as an outsider looking in wasn’t enough for you!”

“ _Stop it!_ ” Newton’s voice echoed in the large room much louder than it should have. The tables rattled and lifted from the floor.

Hermann turned to Newton again, putting his hand back on his shoulder from where it had fallen. “I’m sorry Newt, I shouldn’t have shouted. It’s okay, you can relax.”

“Not you, Hermann.” Newt kept his angry gaze on Herc. “I’m your case, right? You barely talked to me.”

Herc’s hands were still up in defence. “My job was to watch you. The only reason I wasn’t there to keep you away from Chau was because we were busy trying to retrieve Gottlieb’s coat.”

“Don’t you fucking blame him.”

“I am _not._ ” Herc stood, his chair escaping upwards as soon as he left it. He paid it no mind. “We had missed Chau’s initial interaction with you, and that was a misstep on the part of the PPDC.”

Newton grew angrier. The tables reached the ceiling. “If I didn’t _have_ that interaction, Hermann would have been sold into slavery! Will you just take a second to pull your head outta your ass and say your company fucked up?”

“We fucked up, Newt,” Tendo said, standing now and taking a nervous step forward out from under one of the tables.

“I don’t need to hear it from you, Tendo.” Newt never looked away from Herc. “If your organisation knew what I was since I was a kid, you coulda told my dad. You coulda told me and helped me learn. Hermann says that people can smell magic on me because I don’t know how to hide it, and suddenly it makes sense why I have students who don’t like me no matter what I fucking do. If I could hide it, maybe I would have been friends with Hermann for the whole year. Maybe I woulda been with him two nights ago, and Hannibal would have never gotten near him. Maybe we would-… we could have-…” He finally dropped his eyes and stared at the ground. Hermann bit his lip.

“He’s right.” A new voice joined the others. Everyone turned to the door, and in its frame was none other than Stacker Pentecost.

The god damn dean of the school. He shut the door behind him.

Newt stared in shock. His influence dropped, and the desks and chairs fell, but not for long. Tendo threw his arms out and ceased the movement before it was catastrophic. He flinched at the sudden effort it took, and everything finally fell the rest of the way, but only two inches from the ground instead of the whole height of the room. Tendo fell heavily backwards, and a chair slid beneath him to catch him. He stared at Pentecost in shock. “You can’t be serious.”

The only one who didn’t seem surprised was Herc. He sighed after the tables were grounded again, however haphazardly, and raised an arm to the intruder. “Everyone, you already know the Dean. He’s also the man in charge of this city’s branch of the PPDC.”

Tendo turned to Herc with a glare. “This whole time?”

Hermann turned to Tendo. “You were not aware?”

“No,” Tendo said, not looking away from Herc. “I knew we had orders from somebody local, but I didn’t know he was in the _next freaking hall_.”

Herc looked at the floor.

Hermann, gaining fire in his chest, looked back to Pentecost. His boss, Newton’s boss, the boss of these men twice over- And Mako Mori’s adoptive father. His hands balled into fists “I expect… that this is another thing that _Mako_ does not know about…?”

“She does not.” Pentecost’s stare didn’t waver. “I assigned Mako to an agent I trusted.”

Hermann’s nails dug into his hand. “An agent who wasn’t allowed to help.”

Pentecost held his hand up to stop him. Hermann’s mouth settled into a closed snarl. “It’s come to my understanding that PPDC policies are coming into question.” He held his hands behind his back, like a soldier, and walked into the center of the room. “…I’m inclined to agree.”

Hermann narrowed his eyes. “Where the hell have you been, then?”

Pentecost did not answer. “Dr. Gottlieb, welcome to the PPDC, officially. I’ll leave some paperwork for you to sign in your mailbox before the end of the week.”

Hermann took in and insulted breath to speak. “ _Sir-_ ”

“I’m assigning Dr. Geiszler to you,” Pentecost turned to him again, “On the advice of Mr. Hansen. Mr. Choi?”

Tendo only stared at him.

“Please treat Mako as a hands-on case now. No more watching.” He knocked on the table Tendo was leaning on. “In fact, I want everyone to treat your current and future cases as hands-on moving forward. Anyone have any arguments?”

The staring continued. Hermann pursed his lips. “You cannot come in here and expect to smooth things over in thirty seconds-”

“I don’t expect that at all.” Pentecost sighed. “I’ve been keeping tabs on things for the past month, Dr. Gottlieb, and as I said, I’m inclined to agree with your observations. Your justice will come in the form of the fallout I will endure to back your play in the face of the higher ups in the PPDC.” He turned to him. “I am not the head of this snake. And I’m done following orders.”

He moved to stand before Newt, who had sat back down, and who’s leg was bouncing with nerves. Hermann gripped his shoulder carefully. Pentecost’s hand found the other one. “Newton, what was done to you was a mistake. There’s a long line of people at fault here, and I need you to know that not one of them is you. Do you understand?”

Newt’s eyes lifted from where they were planted on Pentecost’s chest and stared at his face. “…I uh... Yeah?”

Pentecost patted his shoulder again. “We’ll start with me. Dr. Newton Geiszler, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for allowing you to suffer with this on your own.” He stood away and looked at Hermann. “Dr. Gottlieb, I’m sorry to you as well. You were unaware of the PPDC’s existence until recently, and your own support system has been nonexistent as a result.”

“All due respect, sir. Miss Mori has been my support system.” Hermann gave him a pointed stare. “You ought to trust her more than you do. I don’t know if you realise what she’s capable of.”

Pentecost’s face finally cracked into a smile. “You’re probably right.” He turned away and looked at the still gobsmacked engineer. “Mr. Choi, I’m sorry I never told you where your orders were coming from. And I’m sorry for the grief this job must have caused you being unable to operate in a productive manner.” And finally, his attention landed on Herc. “Mr. Hansen?”

“Yes, sir?” Herc seemed confused.

“I’m sorry for making you lie to him.” Pentecost glanced at Tendo and then back again. “Now if you gentlemen would excuse me,” He straightened out his blazer. “I have to go apologise to my daughter.” He nodded to them. “As you were.”

Pentecost left the room as stoic as he had entered.

Silence filled the room, and Hermann, the last man standing finally slid down into a chair. Herc kept his gaze on the floor, and Tendo’s never left the door. Newt was frozen completely, alternating between holding his breath and swallowing air like he’d been underwater. Hermann’s hands held his shoulders and rubbed circles into his skin through the fabric of his shirt. Nobody said anything.

Until Tendo planted his hands on his knees. “All right, I know it’s barely noon, but who the fuck else needs a drink?”

All hands went up.

~

When everyone reached Hermann’s office, the closest space with a lock that they knew would not be bothered, the made the decision to talk about anything but the PPDC. Newt and Tendo got the idea to steal a cushioned bench from the teacher’s lounge and camped it by the wall.

The sat around each other, in the chairs and on the bench, swapping stories, passing around a bottle of whisky that Tendo had tucked away for a special occasion.

Tendo shared the story of when he was a boy and got himself stuck on the roof of the neighbour’s house after levitating up to retrieve a Frisbee. After a few shots, he shared another about crawling along the ceiling to escape detection after a girl he’d spent the night with neglected to tell him that A. she had a boyfriend, and B. he was coming home early.

They learned that Herc and his son used to be hunters. They had been until Herc’s wife was bitten by a werewolf she was trying to take down. Their hunting party had not listened to any of their defenses that her state of mind hadn’t changed, that she may have turned, but she was still in control. They came home and found her dead with a silver bullet to the head. That was the day they learned who the real threats were. They drank in silence for a few moments after that.

Hermann told them about his family and his life before he arrived at the school. He explained that they were sent to standard schools when they were young so they could have the knowledge they would need about the world. None of them wanted to leave after that. They all had a gene that hungered for knowledge, and their father could only watch and try and support them in their endeavors. But while the rest of his siblings stayed near each other, Hermann had always dreamed of bigger things and broader horizons. Against his father’s wishes, he traveled the world instead, chasing his dream and catching it. He hadn’t seen his family in a while, mostly because he didn’t want to give his father any chance to try and tell him his choices were wrong.

Newton said that Hermann’s father could take a long hike off a short pier. Laughter filled the room again.

Newton lamented that he didn’t have any fun magical stories, and instead chose to tell them about his family instead. He spoke of his father, who tuned pianos and taught him to play to help him focus. He told them how his uncle helped him learn to love figuring out how things worked, mechanical or otherwise, and how those two were the reason he even got as far as he had. He admitted at the end of his talk that he didn’t care that he never really knew his mother. Regardless of what had happened, he still didn’t know where he would be if any gears had switched in his life. _Would_ he have been there when Hermann had been in trouble? Would he have even known him to know he was in danger? “ _I wouldn’t do anything differently. It got me here, and I’m pretty happy with here._ ”

Hermann tried not to read into what he was saying. He tried not to get his hopes up. He had himself another shot.

Hours later, the sun had set and the bottle was empty. Everyone had their turns on the bench for one reason or another, but their accidental game of musical chairs ended with Tendo and Herc on the bench, asleep sloppily with no regards for each other’s personal space.

Hermann was slouched in his chair, nestled into his coat like it was a blanket. His arms weren’t in the sleeves, but it was still draped around his shoulders and curled around him. At some point his hood had been yanked over his head by Newt, and he left it there, feeling very comfortable in his current company. He was also wide awake.

At his left, Newton had managed to flip himself into the chair upside down. He legs hung over the back of the chair, and his head dangled over the edge. His hands were laced over his chest, and his glasses had slipped off of his head and onto the floor. Hermann smiled at him and leaned his head back. It had been quite a stressful couple of days. He was happy that they all had this time to push that aside and just be friends before all the work started. He gave a content sigh and sank further into his seat, the hood dropping further over his face.

He heard Newton giggle, and he thumbed his hood up enough to find Newton had lifted his head and was looking at him. “You’re still conscious?”

Hermann snorted. “After my last drinking fiasco, I’d prefer I never be as absolutely knackered as I was then.”

Newton laughed. “Hey, if you learned anything from last time, it’s that I will always call you a cab home.” He pulled his knees to his chest as if he was trying to angle himself in such a way that he could sit upright. He struggled, leaning one way, and then the other. Eventually he managed to turn his body enough that he dropped his legs to the floor and swung himself upward. He stared at the wall for a second. “Whoa. Dizzy.” He shook his head.

There was a hum of amusement as Hermann shifted up in the seat. “Are you all right, or do I need to cut you off?”

Newton laughed and lifted the empty bottle as he found it on the floor. “Think Tendo did that for us.”

Hermann chuckled, light and pleased, and glanced at the sleeping pair on the bench. “I feel we should leave them to their rest. Perhaps they need it.”

Newton tossed the empty bottle in the air a few times. “Well, being that most of this is their fault, yeah, maybe we should leave them to it.” He threw the bottle a little higher and went to grab for it, but it slipped from his fingers. “ _Shit-_ ” He threw his hands out to brace for the sound of the bottle shattering-

But no sound came. In reaction to his hands flying out, the bottle stopped its descent. Newton stared at it in shock. Hermann sat up further and tugged his hood off the rest of the way, beaming. “Good job, Newton!” He said, hushed but ecstatic.

Newton kept staring and slowly grabbed the bottle from the air, lifting it back up. His face broke into a grin, and he held it out to Hermann like a child with a macaroni project fit for the fridge. “Did you see that!?”

“Shhh…!” Hermann hushed him when Tendo shifted against Herc’s shoulder. When he stilled again, Hermann carefully took the bottle from Newton. “I feel it’s time we find somewhere else to be,” He lifted the bottle into view again, “Lest your choose to test you power in a louder manner.”

He stood and moved toward his desk, tucking the empty bottle away in the drawer, and Newton spun in his chair to watch. “Where are we headed? Home? Yours? Mine? Out?” He paused. “Maybe dinner?”

Hermann arched a brow at him. “I may not be nearly as inebriated as I was before, but I’m in no shape to show myself in public.”

Newton slumped into the chair, pressing his mouth into the back of it to groan in disappointment.

“I have a better idea, actually.” Hermann shot a glance at Herc before opening the top drawer of his desk and pulling out a set of keys. “Tell me, Dr. Geiszler. Do you feel like breaking a few rules?”

Newton gazed wide eyed at him and nearly tumbled to get out of the chair. “ _Fuck_ yes.”

They left the office quietly, shutting the door as softly as they could behind them, and walked down the empty hall. Newton had a skip in his step as he trailed Hermann, bouncing every now and again to try and get the nervous energy out of his system. Occasionally Newton would take a turn too fast and collide with a trash can, but Hermann was quick to yank him back upright and carry on.

Hermann led the way out of the science building and walked them across the empty quad toward the campus’ pool. They arrived at the door, and Hermann took out the keys. Newt gave a small, gleeful gasp. “No fucking way, you have the keys to the pool? Did Herc give you those?”

Hermann winced and inserted the key. “Well- He didn’t _give_ them to me, per say.” He turned it, and the door opened. “But he has yet to notice them missing. This is the spare set.”

Newton hissed in laughter and covered his mouth. “Hermann, you dog! You stole them?”

“I think that’s a bit of a harsh word, don’t you?” Hermann pushed the door open. “I did say we were breaking some rules.”

They made their way inside, and Hermann locked up again behind them. He made his way to a far corner of the hall and flipped one switch. The overhead lights remained off, but the pool lit up. It looked otherworldly, a teal light beneath the still, glass like surface of the water. Hermann moved to the main room and walked beneath the camera , taking a long pool brush and using it to lift a towel over the lens with practiced ease. He was clearly a frequent flyer. “There we are. No one the wiser.” He said, turning back around to the pool.

Newton was already out of his shirt and shoes and was busy yanking the last leg of his pants off of his ankle, leaving him in his boxers only.

Hermann flushed to his neck, but he didn’t even get the chance to look away in modesty before Newton gave a whoop of joy and canon balled into the pool. It’s perfect surface was shattered and now bounced with waves as energetic as Newton’s magic. Hermann managed a chuckled and stepped to the pool’s edge. “How very graceful of you, Newton,” He said after the man resurfaced.

Newton spit a mouthful of water in Hermann’s direction but didn’t even reach the pool wall. His glasses had somehow remained on his face, and his eyes gleamed up at him through water droplets on the lenses as he laughed. “I was going for size, dude! What would you rate that?”

“A strong seven.”

Newton made an offended noise and swam to the edge. “Aw come on! That was an eight at _least_.” He leaned his elbows on the edge and grinned up at Hermann. “So am I having a solo swim? Were you just trying to impress me with your secret breaking and entering tendencies?”

Hermann gripped his cane a bit harder and hunched his shoulders. “Ah- Yes. I mean no. I-” He sighed and took a breath. “…Would you mind looking away for a moment?”

Newton’s smile slowly melted away into wonder as he realised why they were here. “O-… Okay yeah, sure.” He turned away and swam to the shallows and faced the wall.

Hermann took a deep breath and sighed, moving to a bench and setting his cane down. He peered at Newton to ensure he was keeping his word and removed his coat once he was satisfied. He sat down, removed his shoes and socks, and tried not to over-think. This was not a mistake. Newton deserved the chance to know how much somebody trusted him. And in all honesty, Hermann needed this as much as Newton did.

He removed his cardigan and his his sweater vest. He unbuttoned his dress shirt and cast it aside, ignoring the feeling on insecurity at baring his thin shoulders. After a pause, with a deep, nervous breath, he removed everything else.

Then he lifted his coat and put it back on. He stood, collected his cane, and padded carefully to the stairs. “N-…” He stumbled on his words and closed his eyes. He forced them open and tried again. “Newton, you may look now.”

Newton turned slowly in the pool and looked almost as nervous as Hermann did. “…Herms, are you-… are you sure you wanna do this, because you really- If you’re not ready-”

“I assure you that I am.” Hermann gripped the rail and stepped down into the pool. Newton drifted closer until he was a few feet away, and Hermann was waist deep in the water. Hermann’s cane was set on the poolside, and he descended the final step. The coat puffed up, as it would, the lower he got as its transformed nature tried to make it float before it soaked in the water. Hermann shifted it down to where it belonged and looked directly into Newton’s eyes. “Are you ready?”

Newton gave him the barest of starstruck nods. “…Are you?”

Hermann’s lips twitched up in a relieved smile instead of an answer. Then he pulled his hood up and sank.

Newton watched the grey shape beneath the shaky water. He couldn’t focus on it as it moved within a small space beneath the light bending waves. He was down there long enough that Newton had begun to worry, when suddenly the shape took off across the pool beneath the surface. Newton watched with breathless awe as the figure torpedoed through the deep end, kicking around in an impossibly fast arc and heading directly for Newton. Newton held his ground as if it would bowl into him, but it slowed just before it reached him and swam upward.

The face of a seal broke the surface. He was only surfaced enough to clear his nose and his eyes, but it was obvious he was staring at him expectantly, and despite not having the same facial muscle range as the human Hermann appeared to be, he still looked worried.

Scared.

Newton finally let his amazement show in a bright, unfiltered smile. “Holy _shit_ , dude…” He shifted forward without thinking and hovered his hands around Hermann’s head. The he stopped. “Oh, uh- Sorry, I was just-… Can I touch-”

Newt swore the seal rolled his eyes before shifting further out of the water and nuzzling Newt’s hand. Newt heard nothing, but he knew Hermann’s words would have been ‘Obviously, you fool.’

Newt’s smile brightened further, and he brought his other hand into it, running his fingers along Hermann’s soft neck and rubbing his thumbs just under his large eyes. “This is _nuts!_ ” He laughed breathlessly. “Uh, not like in a bad way, I mean that as a figure of speech, in a good way,a really, _really_ good-”

Hermann shook Newton’s hands off and sank beneath the water again. Before Newt could try to apologise, he was tripped. He toppled over into the water with a yelp, face first into the water. He felt Hermann shift beneath him, and he reached for him out of reflex-

And then Hermann took off. He shifted above the water for a few seconds, and Newton took the opportunity to take a deeper breathe, and then they were under again. Newton held on and forced his eyes open to see how fast they were going. He knew from watching earlier that Hermann could swim faster than this without Newton hanging on, but he still wondered how irritated Hermann would be if he asked to do this again. And again. As often as possible.

Hermann arced them around the deep end, as he did before, and Newton did his best to hold on. When they approached the shallows again, Hermann surfaced again and jumped out of the water. He dipped quickly and flicked his tail, throwing Newton off of him.

Newt gave a yelp as he was unceremoniously dumped back into the water. He surfaced with a breathless gasp and wiped his eyes free of water. He realised in doing so that he was missing his glassed now officially, but he could still see a vague shape in the water that must have been Hermann. He tried to squint at him he sped back into the deep, watching the shape sink toward the end of the deep. When the vague blur of Hermann returned, he slowed on approach and broke the surface.

Thin, pale hands slipped Newton’s glasses back onto his face. “My apologies,” Hermann, apparently human again, mumbled in something akin to embarrassment. “Honestly though, it’s your own fault for wearing those things in the pool.”

Newton adjusted his glasses on his nose and laughed. “I don’t think you understand how blind I am without these.” He lifted his head to look up at Hermann-

Who was only _mostly_ human. He was exactly the same as before, but his lips were parted to take larger breaths from the effort, and his teeth were _sharp_. Each one was pointed, longer at the canines, just like a seal. Newton could have focused solely on that, but he was too busy getting drawn in by Hermann’s new eyes. The irises were massive in comparison to a normal human’s, and Newton was getting lost in the deep pools of the pupils.

Hermann flinched and closed his eyes. “I know,” He lifted his hands, that still had claws at the ends of his fingers where they had been at the ends of his fins, and covered his face. “It looks awful, but I promise it goes away after a time once I leave the water-”

Newton reached up and took his wrists in his hands, pulling them away from his face. “Okay, first of all, you don’t know what you’re talking about, because you look _amazing_.” Newton took a breath as his cheeks filled with colour, and his tongue peeked out to brush his lips and ponder what he was about to say. “Secondly, can I-… Can I see?” His hands never left Hermann’s.

Hermann blinked at him and stared carefully. After a few moments of nervous silence, he nodded. “…If you wish.” He turned away and tugged Newton to the stairs again so they could sit and still be within the water. Newt sat a step higher than Hermann, now a bit shorter than him and giving Newton a better view.

Newt took his face in his hands and began his examination. He ran his thumbs beneath Hermann’s eyes, as he had done while he had been a seal, and made note of how far the iris spread. “Your vision must by crazy right now dude. I know a seal’s vision is kinda shit on land, but I never thought I’d be in a situation where I could actually ask one how bad it is.”

Hermann snorted a bit, pushing his embarrassment down. “Right. You’re a marine biologist.” Of course he was doing this for scientific purposes. It was literally his lot in life. One of them, anyway. “It isn’t good, at all. I suppose it’s comparable to what your vision is like beneath the waves.”

“That’s fucking neat.” Newt moved on almost immediately. His gaze dipped down to Hermann’s mouth, and the wandering hands followed.

Hermann moved to open his mouth, but Newton ran his thumb along his upper lip and pressed it carefully upwards, away from the teeth. Hermann’s mind went blank. If his eyes had not already been so dilated, they would have blown further. He wanted to nip at the finger, but he quelled the urge. This was already an outlandish situation, he didn’t need to make it any weirder by introducing his feelings into the mix.

Newton was blind to Hermann’s inner turmoil. He remained transfixed and ran a finger along one of his canines. He beamed. “Jesus… You’re like something out of Dagon.”

Now he just wanted to bite him. Hermann threw his lack of amusement into his brow, dropping it into a warning glare.

Newt winced. “Hey, I didn’t mean that in a bad way, I was just-… ya know, saying. And I like Dagon, it’s a cool movie. I was rooting for the home team.”

Hermann snorted and pulled away enough to speak. “Home team?”

“Yeah, us monsters.” Newt grinned at his own joke.

Hermann rolled his large eyes. “As much as I do in fact qualify myself as a monster, to the bare bones of the descriptor, you may want to keep that word use to a minimum in the community. It is a little insulting to some.”

“Understood. Still think it’s cool.” Newton took in an excited breath and moved a hand back to Hermann’s face. “Just… knowing that all of these are real, that they exist- that something amazing like _you_  can exist, and I feel like I know now why I never felt… like I fit.” He smile grew sad. “I’ve always been the smartest guy in the room, but nobody ever liked me. I was too loud, or too excitable, or just _too much_ in some way that I could never control. And now, here I am, not too anything.” He absently ran his finger along Hermann’s bottom lip, barely paying the teeth within any mind. “…Do you get that…? Or is it just me?” Newt looked a little afraid of the answer.

Oh to hell with it. Hermann lifted one hand to take Newton’s wrist in his grasp and held him there. He turned his head slight and pressed his lips to the wandering thumb, softly, slowly. He pulled away and looked back up into Newton’s eyes. “I assure you, darling,” He tested the word again. “It isn’t just you.”

Even with water drenching them both, Hermann could still smell the magic as it glowed in a thousand colours. It was a supernova singeing into his skin and scorching his veins to the tips of his fingers, taking his breath away into the vacuum around him. Hermann swore he could see stars forming in his bright, endlessly green eyes.

But none of those feelings even came close to what he felt when Newton leaned down breathed the entire galaxy into him. Newton kissed him like he’d been waiting for this moment his entire life, and Hermann returned it like he wanted to devour all of the space within him. It was slow, but there was no caution anymore. That wall had been demolished when Newton risked his life for Hermann’s coat. The static from Newton’s power arced between their lips, and Hermann could only sigh in response. Newton’s hands were shaking on either side of Hermann’s face, but Hermann ran his own hands over them to give them the encouragement they needed to hold harder- to promise that that’s right where they belonged- before sliding his hands down his chest and around his back.

Newt took his actions as the affirmation they were and leaned in. Hermann was pressed into the wall of the pool, but Newton’s arm had slid in the way to keep him from the hard concrete. Hermann thanked him for his thoughtfulness by opening his mouth the slightest bit. Newton’s tongue took the granted access and decided to study Hermann’s sharp teeth in greater detail. Hermann flinched and pulled back barely an inch. “Careful,” He warned.

Newt laughed with whatever breath was still in him, and the stars now in Hermann had never burned brighter. “I know what I’m doing; I’m a doctor.” He nuzzled his nose to Hermann’s.

Hermann sighed, full of stardust and serotonin, and rested his forehead against Newton’s. He opened his eyes, which he knew were still huge, and stared into the sea of green before him- A sea that Hermann would happily dive into and never leave.

As the feeling of the room slowly wormed its way past the nebula of Newton, Hermann’s brows dipped in confusion. He didn’t feel any water. He’d been submerged to his elbows. He turned slowly from Newton and looked up-

The pool was empty. The water- every last fluid ounce of it- was in the air. Globs of it drifted about the entire space of the room, as if unaffected by gravity or physics at all. Hermann’s eyes grew wide. Newton blinked kiss-drunkenly at Hermann before turning his attention to what he was staring at. He grew tense in Hermann’s arms, and Hermann swallowed. “Don’t panic, Newton-”

The water fell before either of them could say another word. It rained down everywhere in the room, outside of the pool, inside of it, in the hall from the door, everywhere. It splashed down with the force of a sudden, torrential downpour, and both men braced against each other until it was over.

When they finally looked, everything in the room was wet, and at least a fourth of the pool water didn’t make it back into the pool.

Newton pressed his lips together as if waiting for something else to happen. Hermann covered his mouth and laughed. “All right, well. Apparently it isn’t just when you’re upset.” He touched Newton’s cheek. “Already making progress.” Newton beamed at him again, and Hermann reached down and took his hand.

Things were going to be fine after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A calm before the storm, if you will.


End file.
